Died on Tuesday, 15th April – Famous Deaths

15/04/2025

Wink Martindale, American DJ, radio personality, and TV personality (born 1933)

Winston Conrad "Wink" Martindale was an American disc jockey, radio personality, game show host and television producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he was known for his outgoing and jovial demeanor and his booming voice, who was also well-known for hosting the game shows: Gambit from 1972 to 1976, Tic-Tac-Dough from 1978 to 1985, High Rollers from 1987 to 1988, and Debt from 1996 to 1998. He also presented Wink's Vault, on his YouTube Channel, from 2014 until his death in 2025.

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15/04/2024

Whitey Herzog, American professional baseball outfielder and manager (born 1931)

Dorrel Norman Elvert "Whitey" Herzog was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager, most notable for his Major League Baseball (MLB) managerial career.

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Josip Manolić, Croatian politician, prime minister, and speaker of the Chamber of Counties (born 1920)

Josip "Joža" Manolić was a Croatian politician and communist revolutionary during World War II in Yugoslavia. He served as a high-ranking official of the Yugoslav State Security Administration and later as Prime Minister of Croatia, from 24 August 1990 to 17 July 1991. He was the last prime minister of Croatia as a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, as the country formally declared its independence during his term, on 25 June 1991. Following his brief term as prime minister, Manolić served as the first Speaker of the Chamber of Counties, the then upper house of the Croatian Parliament, from 1993 until 1994.

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15/04/2022

Bilquis Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist and wife of Abdul Sattar Edhi (born 1947)

Bilquis Bano Edhi was a Pakistani nurse who helped save the lives of over 16,000 children. During her career as a nurse and marriage to Abdul Sattar Edhi, she was one of the most active philanthropists in Pakistan. She was the co-chair of the Edhi Foundation, a charity organization that provided many services in Pakistan including a hospital and emergency service in Karachi. For her contributions, she was awarded the 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service and the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice in 2015. She was also a recipient of Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's second highest civilian honour. For her service to the country, she was also referred to as The Mother of Pakistan.

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Henry Plumb, British politician and farmer (born 1925)

Charles Henry Plumb, Baron Plumb, was a British politician and farmer who went into politics as a leader of the National Farmers' Union. He later became active in the Conservative Party and was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He served as an MEP from 1979 to 1999, and was President of the European Parliament from 1987 to 1989, the only Briton to hold the post.

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Liz Sheridan, American actress (born 1929)

Elizabeth Ann Sheridan was an American actress. While best known for her roles as the nosy neighbor, Mrs. Ochmonek, on the sitcom ALF (1986–1990), and Jerry's mother, Helen, in Seinfeld (1990–1998), her decades-long career was extensive and included work on the stage and on large and small screens.

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15/04/2018

R. Lee Ermey, American actor (born 1944)

Ronald Lee Ermey was an American actor and U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Ermey was also a United States Marine Corps staff sergeant and an honorary gunnery sergeant.

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Vittorio Taviani, Italian film director and screenwriter (born 1929)

Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, collectively referred to as the Taviani brothers, were Italian film directors and screenwriters who collaborated on numerous film productions.

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15/04/2017

Clifton James, American actor (born 1920)

George Clifton James was an American actor of film, theatre, and television. He was best known to screen audiences for his various character roles, including prison floorwalker Carr in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond films Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), the sheriff in Silver Streak (1976), a Texas tycoon in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977), and Charles Comiskey in Eight Men Out (1988).

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Emma Morano, Italian supercentenarian, last person verified born in the 1800s (born 1899)

Emma Martina Luigia Morano was an Italian supercentenarian. She was the world's oldest living person from 13 May 2016 until her death on 15 April 2017, aged 117 years and 137 days. She was also the last living person verified to have been born in the 1800s. She remains the oldest Italian person ever to be documented and the fourth-oldest European ever.

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15/04/2015

Jonathan Crombie, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (born 1966)

Jonathan Crombie was a Canadian actor and voice-over artist, best known for playing Gilbert Blythe in CBC Television's 1985 telefilm Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels.

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Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1928)

Surya Bahadur Thapa was a Nepali politician and a five-time Prime Minister of Nepal. He served under three different kings in a political career lasting more than 50 years.

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15/04/2014

John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (born 1919)

John Cornelius Houbolt was an aerospace engineer credited with leading the team behind the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mission mode, a concept that was used to successfully land humans on the Moon and return them to Earth. This flight path was chosen for the Apollo program in July 1962. The critical decision to use LOR was viewed as vital to ensuring that man reached the Moon by the end of the decade as proposed by President John F. Kennedy. In the process, LOR saved time and billions of dollars by efficiently using the available rocket and spacecraft technologies.

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Eliseo Verón, Argentinian sociologist and academic (born 1935)

Eliseo Verón was an Argentine sociologist, anthropologist and semiotician, and professor of communication sciences at Universidad de San Andrés. His work is known mainly in Spanish and French-speaking countries.

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15/04/2013

Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (born 1930)

Benjamin Fain was an Israeli physicist, professor-emeritus, and former refusenik.

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Richard LeParmentier, American-English actor and screenwriter (born 1946)

Richard LeParmentier was an American actor who lived and worked primarily in the United Kingdom, best known for his role as Admiral Motti in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) and the acerbic police officer Lt. Santino in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). He is credited under several variations of his name, including Richard Parmentier, Rick Le Parmentier and Richard LeParmentiere.

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Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (born 1928)

Jean-François Paillard was a French conductor.

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15/04/2012

Paul Bogart, American director and producer (born 1919)

Paul Bogart was an American television director and producer. Bogart directed episodes of the television series 'Way Out in 1961, Coronet Blue in 1967, Get Smart, The Dumplings in 1976, All in the Family from 1975 to 1979, Mama Malone in 1982, and four episodes of the first season of The Golden Girls in 1985. Among his films are Oh, God! You Devil, Torch Song Trilogy, Halls of Anger, Marlowe, Skin Game, and Class of '44. He won five Primetime Emmy Awards during his long career, from sixteen nominations. In 1991, he was awarded the French Festival Internationelle Programmes Audiovisuelle at the Cannes Film Festival.

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Dwayne Schintzius, American basketball player (born 1968)

Dwayne Kenneth Schintzius was an American basketball player who played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in Brandon, Florida and attended the University of Florida, where he helped lead the Florida Gators men's basketball program to its first three NCAA tournament appearances as an all-conference center. Schintzius was selected in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs, but chronic back problems reduced his effectiveness, and he played for six different NBA teams over ten seasons in the league, mainly as a reserve player.

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15/04/2011

Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian journalist, author, and activist (born 1975)

Vittorio Arrigoni was an Italian journalist and activist. He worked with the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement (ISM), through which he arrived in the Gaza Strip in 2008. He maintained a website called Guerrilla Radio and also published a book about his experiences in Gaza City during the 2008–2009 Gaza War between Hamas and Israel. In 2011, he was abducted and murdered by a group of Salafi jihadists. The Hamas government, which identified the perpetrators as Palestinian and Jordanian affiliates of al-Qaeda, subsequently initiated a manhunt and arrested the accused suspects during a raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp. Arrigoni was the first foreign national to have been involved in such an incident in the Gaza Strip since the kidnapping of British journalist Alan Johnston in 2007.

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15/04/2010

Jack Herer, American author and activist (born 1939)

Jack Herer, sometimes called the "Emperor of Hemp", was an American cannabis rights activist and the author of the 1985 book The Emperor Wears No Clothes. Herer founded and served as the director of the organization Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP).

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Michael Pataki, American actor and director (born 1938)

Michael Pataki was an American actor of stage, film and television.

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15/04/2009

Clement Freud, German-English journalist, academic, and politician (born 1924)

Sir Clement Raphael Freud was a British broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany as a child and later worked as a prominent chef and food writer.

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László Tisza, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (born 1907)

László Tisza was a Hungarian-born American physicist who was Professor of Physics Emeritus at MIT. He was a colleague of famed physicists Edward Teller, Lev Landau and Fritz London, and initiated the two-fluid model of liquid helium.

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Salih Neftçi, Turkish economist and author (born 1947)

Salih Nur Neftçi was a leading expert in the fields of financial markets and financial engineering. He served many advisory roles in national and international financial institutions, and was an active researcher in the fields of finance and financial engineering. Neftçi was an avid and highly regarded educator in mathematical finance who was well known for a lucid and accessible approach towards the field.

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15/04/2008

Krister Stendahl, Swedish bishop, theologian, and scholar (born 1921)

Krister Olofson Stendahl was a Swedish theologian, New Testament scholar, and Church of Sweden Bishop of Stockholm. He also served as dean, professor, and professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School.

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15/04/2007

Brant Parker, American illustrator (born 1920)

Brant Julian Parker was an American cartoonist. He co-created and drew The Wizard of Id comic strip until passing the job on to his son, Jeff Parker, in 1997. Cartoonist Johnny Hart, his co-creator, continued writing the strip until his death on April 7, 2007. Parker himself died eight days later, on April 15.

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15/04/2004

Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese illustrator (born 1934)

Mitsuteru Yokoyama was a Japanese manga artist. Considered to be one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of manga and anime, his works have had a significant impact in the creation and establishment of many genres. These include: mecha, magical girl, battle manga, ninja, and literary adaptations (Sangokushi). Some of his other works include Giant Robo, Kamen no Ninja Akakage, Princess Comet, and an adaptation of the Chinese classic Water Margin.

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15/04/2002

Damon Knight, American author and critic (born 1922)

Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He is the author of "To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for The Twilight Zone. He was married to fellow writer Kate Wilhelm in 1963.

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Byron White, American football player, lawyer, and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (born 1917)

Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White was an American lawyer and professional football halfback who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1962 to 1993. At the time of his retirement, he was the Supreme Court's only sitting justice appointed by a Democrat and the last-living member of the progressive Warren Court.

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15/04/2001

Joey Ramone, American singer-songwriter (born 1951)

Jeffrey Ross Hyman, known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist and founding member of the punk rock band Ramones, with Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone. His image, voice, and tenure with the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.

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15/04/2000

Edward Gorey, American poet and illustrator (born 1925)

Edward St. John Gorey was an American writer, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers. His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in Victorian and Edwardian settings.

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15/04/1999

Harvey Postlethwaite, English engineer (born 1944)

Harvey Ernest Postlethwaite was a British engineer and Technical Director of several Formula One teams during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He died of a heart attack in Spain while supervising the testing of the aborted Honda F1 project.

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15/04/1998

William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (born 1912)

William Grosvenor Congdon was an American painter who became notable as an artist in New York City in the 1940s, but lived most of his life in Europe.

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Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (born 1925)

Pol Pot was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 until his overthrow in 1979. During his reign, his administration oversaw mass atrocities and he is widely believed to be one of the most brutal despots in modern world history. Ideologically a Maoist and Khmer ethnonationalist, Pot was a leader of Cambodia's Communist movement, known as the Khmer Rouge, from 1963 to 1997. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1963 to 1981, during which Cambodia was converted into a one-party state. Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge perpetrated the Cambodian genocide, in which an estimated 1.5–2 million people died—approximately one-quarter of the country's pre-genocide population. In December 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia to remove the Khmer Rouge from power. Within two weeks Vietnamese forces occupied most of the country, ending the genocide and establishing a new Cambodian government, with the Khmer Rouge restricted to the rural hinterlands in the western part of the country.

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15/04/1993

Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (born 1907)

Leslie Charteris, was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of his hero Simon Templar, alias "The Saint".

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John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geophysicist and geologist (born 1908)

John Tuzo Wilson was a Canadian geophysicist, geologist and professor at the University of Toronto who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics. He added the concept of hot spots, a volcanic region hotter than the surrounding mantle. He also conceived of the transform fault, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally.

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15/04/1990

Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress (born 1905)

Greta Garbo was a Swedish and American actress. She was a premier star during Hollywood's silent and early golden eras. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses of all time, she is known for her melancholic and somber screen persona, her film portrayals of tragic characters, and her subtle and understated performances. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on its list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema.

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15/04/1989

Hu Yaobang, Chinese soldier and politician, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (born 1915)

Hu Yaobang was a Chinese politician who was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, then as General Secretary from 1982 to 1987. After the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), Hu rose to prominence as a close ally of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China at the time.

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15/04/1988

Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (born 1926)

Kenneth Charles Williams was a British actor and comedian. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main cast in 26 of the 31 Carry On films and appeared in many British television programmes and radio comedies, including series with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne, as well as being a frequent panellist on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show Just a Minute from its second series in 1968 until his death 20 years later.

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15/04/1986

Jean Genet, French novelist, poet, and playwright (born 1910)

Jean Genet was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels The Thief's Journal and Our Lady of the Flowers and the plays The Balcony, The Maids and The Screens.

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15/04/1984

Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedian and magician (born 1921)

Thomas Frederick Cooper was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. He was large and lumbering at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army for seven years before developing his conjuring skills and becoming a member of The Magic Circle. Although he spent time on tour performing his magical act, which specialised in magic tricks that appeared to fail, he rose to international prominence when his career moved into television, with programmes for London Weekend Television and Thames Television.

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15/04/1982

Arthur Lowe, English actor (born 1915)

Arthur Lowe was an English actor. His acting career spanned 37 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977, was nominated for seven BAFTAs and became one of the most recognised faces on UK television. He won his only BAFTA, the Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his performance in O Lucky Man! (1973).

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15/04/1980

Raymond Bailey, American actor and soldier (born 1904)

Raymond Thomas Bailey was an American actor on the Broadway stage, films, and television. He is best known for his role as greedy banker Milburn Drysdale in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies.

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Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905)

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism. His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution."

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15/04/1979

David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (born 1912)

Sir David Brand KCMG was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving premier of Western Australia, in office from 1959 to 1971, and was state leader of the Liberal Party from 1957 to 1972.

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15/04/1971

Gurgen Boryan, Armenian poet and playwright (born 1915)

Gurgen Mikayeli Boryan, was an Armenian poet and playwright.

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Friedebert Tuglas, Estonian author and critic (born 1886)

Friedebert Tuglas, born Friedebert Mihkelson or Michelson, was an Estonian writer and critic who introduced Impressionism and Symbolism to Estonian literature.

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15/04/1967

Totò, Italian comedian (born 1898)

Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio, best known by his stage name Totò, or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed il principe della risata, was an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter, dramatist, poet, singer and lyricist. He is commonly referred to as one of the most popular Italian performers of all time. While best known for his funny and sometimes cynical comic characters in theatre and then many successful comedy films made from the 1940s to the 1960s, he also worked with many iconic Italian film directors in dramatic roles.

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15/04/1966

Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury, Bengali politician, writer, journalist, first health minister of East Pakistan (born 1906)

Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury was a politician, journalist, footballer and writer from erstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh, who served in the political spheres of British India and Pakistan.

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15/04/1963

Edward Greeves, Jr., Australian footballer (born 1903)

Edward Goderich "Carji" Greeves Jr. was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), now known as the Australian Football League (AFL). He won the inaugural Brownlow Medal in 1924, awarded to the VFL/AFL player adjudged fairest and best during the home-and-away season. He is the son of Ted Greeves, who also played with the Geelong Football Club.

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15/04/1962

Clara Blandick, American actress (born 1880)

Clara Blandick was an American character, film, stage and theater actress. She is best known to today's audiences as Aunt Em in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer classic film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz (1939). As a character actress, she often played eccentric elderly matriarchs.

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Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (born 1912)

Arsenio Hilario Sison Lacson Sr. was a Filipino lawyer, journalist and politician who gained widespread attention as the 17th Mayor of Manila and the first to be democratically elected. An active executive likened by Time and The New York Times to New York City's Fiorello La Guardia, he was the first Manila mayor to be reelected to three terms, remaining in office for over a decade from January 1952 to April 1962. Nicknamed "Arsenic" and described as "a good man with a bad mouth", Lacson's fiery temperament became a trademark of his political and broadcasting career. He died suddenly from a stroke amidst talk that he was planning to run in the 1965 presidential election.

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15/04/1949

Wallace Beery, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1885)

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as the pirate Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934) for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.

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15/04/1948

Radola Gajda, Montenegrin-Czech general and politician (born 1892)

Radola Gajda, born as Rudolf Geidl was a Czech military commander and politician.

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15/04/1945

Hermann Florstedt, German SS officer (born 1895)

Arthur Hermann Florstedt was a German SS official who served as the third commandant of Majdanek concentration camp from November 1942 to October 1943.

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15/04/1944

Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Russian general (born 1901)

Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin was a Soviet military commander during World War II who was responsible for many Red Army operations in the Ukrainian SSR as the commander of the Southwestern Front, and of the Voronezh Front during the Battle of Kursk. During the Soviet offensive to retake right-bank Ukraine, Vatutin led the 1st Ukrainian Front, which was responsible for the Red Army's offensives to the west and the southwest of Kiev and the eventual liberation of the city.

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15/04/1943

Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian painter and set designer (born 1882)

Aristarkh Vasilyevich Lentulov was a major Russian avant-garde artist of Cubist orientation who also worked on set designs for the theatre.

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15/04/1942

Robert Musil, Austrian-Swiss author and playwright (born 1880)

Robert Musil was an Austrian philosophical writer. His unfinished novel, The Man Without Qualities, is generally considered to be one of the most important and influential modernist novels.

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15/04/1938

César Vallejo, Peruvian journalist, poet, and playwright (born 1892)

César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet, writer, playwright, and journalist. Although he published only two books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language. Thomas Merton called him "the greatest universal poet since Dante". The late British poet, critic and biographer Martin Seymour-Smith, a leading authority on world literature, called Vallejo "the greatest twentieth-century poet in any language." He was a member of the intellectual community called North Group formed in the Peruvian north coastal city of Trujillo.

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15/04/1927

Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (born 1868)

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.

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15/04/1925

Fritz Haarmann, German serial killer (born 1879)

Friedrich Heinrich Karl "Fritz" Haarmann was a German serial rapist and serial killer, known as the Butcher of Hanover, the Vampire of Hanover and the Wolf Man, who committed the sexual assault, murder, mutilation and dismemberment of at least twenty-four young men and boys in the city of Hanover between 1918 and 1924.

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15/04/1917

János Murkovics, Slovene author, poet, and educator (born 1839)

János Murkovics was a Slovene teacher, musician, and writer in Hungary.

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15/04/1912

Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Thomas Andrews Jr. was a British businessman and shipbuilder, who was managing director and head of the drafting department of the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. He was the naval architect in charge of the plans for the Olympic-class ocean liners, most notably the RMS Titanic. He perished along with more than 1,500 people when the ship sank on her maiden voyage; his body, if recovered, was not identified.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

John Jacob Astor IV was an American business magnate, real estate developer, and investor who was a member of the Astor family and also the Livingston family. A writer, as well as a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, he was among the most prominent American passengers aboard RMS Titanic and perished along with 1,495 others when the ship sank on her maiden voyage. Astor was the richest passenger aboard the RMS Titanic and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time, with a net worth of roughly $87 million when he died.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Archibald Willingham DeGraffenreid Clarendon Butt was an American Army officer and aide to presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. After a few years as a newspaper reporter, he served two years as the First Secretary of the American embassy in Mexico. He was commissioned in the United States Volunteers in 1898 and served in the Quartermaster Corps during the Spanish–American War. After brief postings in Washington, D.C., and Cuba, Butt was appointed military aide to Republican presidents Roosevelt and Taft. He was a highly influential advisor on a wide range of topics to both men, and his writings are a major source of historical information on the presidencies. He died in the sinking of the British liner Titanic in 1912.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Jacques Heath Futrelle was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as "The Thinking Machine" for his use of logic. Futrelle died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Benjamin Guggenheim was an American businessman, who was a wealthy member of the Guggenheim family. He was among the most prominent American passengers aboard the British ocean liner RMS Titanic and perished along with 1,495 others when the ship sank on her maiden voyage.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Henry Birkhardt Harris was a Broadway producer and theatre owner who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. His wife was the future producer Renee Harris, who survived the sinking and lived until 1969.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Wallace Henry Hartley was an English violinist, who became best known for his actions during the sinking of the Titanic. The bandleader on the Titanic during its maiden voyage, he led the eight-member band in various pieces as the ship sank on 15 April 1912; neither he nor any of the band survived.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Charles Melville Hays was the president of the Grand Trunk Railway. He began working in the railroad business as a clerk at the age of 17 and quickly rose through the ranks of management to become the General Manager of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway. He became Vice-President of that company in 1889 and remained as such until 1896 when he became General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) of Canada.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

James Paul Moody was a British merchant sailor, who served as sixth officer aboard RMS Titanic. He died when the ship sank on her maiden voyage in April 1912, the only junior officer not to survive the disaster.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Lieutenant William McMaster Murdoch was a British sailor who was the first officer on the RMS Titanic and the officer in charge on the bridge when the ship collided with an iceberg. He was amongst the 1,500 people who perished when the ship sank. The circumstances of his death have been the subject of controversy.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

John George "Jack" Phillips was a British wireless telegraphist, who served as the chief wireless operator aboard RMS Titanic during her ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Commander Edward John Smith was a British merchant sea captain and naval officer, who became best known as the captain of the ill-fated ocean liner RMS Titanic.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

William Thomas Stead was an English newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst editor of The Pall Mall Gazette, including his 1885 series of articles, The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon. These were written in support of a bill, later dubbed the "Stead Act", that raised the age of consent from 13 to 16.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Isidor Straus and Rosalie Ida Straus were an American couple who died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Isidor was a German-Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the state of New York.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Isidor Straus and Rosalie Ida Straus were an American couple who died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Isidor was a German-Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the state of New York.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

John Borland Thayer II was an American businessman who had a thirty-year career as an executive with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He was a director and second vice-president of the company when he died at age 49 in the sinking of the RMS Titanic, on April 15, 1912. In his youth, Thayer was also a prominent sportsman, playing baseball and lacrosse for the University of Pennsylvania and first-class cricket for the Philadelphian cricket team.

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Victims of the Titanic disaster:

Lieutenant Henry Tingle Wilde was a British Merchant Navy officer who was the chief officer of the RMS Titanic during her ill-fated maiden voyage. Wilde died during the sinking, alongside 1,500 others.

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15/04/1898

Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, New Zealand commander and politician

Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui was a Māori military commander and noted ally of the government forces during the New Zealand Wars. First known as Te Rangihiwinui, he was later known as Te Keepa, Meiha Keepa, Major Keepa or Major Kemp.

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15/04/1889

Father Damien, Belgian priest and saint (born 1840)

Damien De Veuster, popularly known as Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai, was a Belgian Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He ministered to a leper colony in Molokaʻi, Kingdom of Hawaii, from 1873 until his death in 1889.

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15/04/1888

Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (born 1822)

Matthew Arnold was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother of both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator. He has been characterised as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues. He was also an inspector of schools for thirty-five years, and supported the concept of state-regulated secondary education.

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15/04/1865

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (born 1809)

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederate States and playing a major role in the abolition of slavery.

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15/04/1861

Sylvester Jordan, Austrian-German lawyer and politician (born 1792)

Franz Sylvester Jordan (1792–1861) was a German politician and lawyer.

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15/04/1854

Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (born 1773)

Arthur Aikin was an English chemist, mineralogist and scientific writer, and was a founding member of the Chemical Society. He first became its treasurer in 1841, and later became the society's second president.

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15/04/1793

Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian priest, mathematician, and astronomer (born 1718)

Ignacije Szentmartony was a Croatian Jesuit priest, missionary, mathematician, astronomer, explorer and cartographer.

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15/04/1788

Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (born 1711)

Giuseppe Bonno was an Austrian composer of Italian origin.

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15/04/1765

Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian chemist and physicist (born 1711)

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Venus and the law of conservation of mass in chemical reactions. His spheres of science were natural science, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, history, art, philology, optical devices and others. One of the founders of modern geology, Lomonosov was also a poet and influenced the formation of the modern Russian literary language.

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15/04/1764

Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (born 1679)

Peder [Nielsen] Horrebow (Horrebov) was a Danish astronomer. Born in Løgstør, Jutland to a poor family of fishermen, Horrebow entered the University of Copenhagen in 1703. He worked his way through grammar school and university by virtue of his technical knowledge: he repaired mechanical and musical instruments and cut seals. He received his MA from the university in 1716, and his MD in 1725. From 1703 to 1707, he served as an assistant to Ole Rømer and lived in Rømer's home. He worked as a household tutor from 1707 to 1711 to a Danish baron, and entered the governmental bureaucracy as an excise writer in 1711.

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Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV (born 1721)

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and remained influential as court favourite until her death.

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15/04/1761

Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord President of the Court of Session (born 1682)

Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, was a British army officer, judge, politician and merchant. He was styled Lord Archibald Campbell from 1703 to 1706, and as the Earl of Ilay from 1706 until 1743, when he succeeded to the dukedom. Campbell was the dominant political leader in Scotland in his day, and was involved in many civic projects.

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William Oldys, English historian and author (born 1696)

William Oldys was an English antiquarian and bibliographer.

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15/04/1757

Rosalba Carriera, Italian painter (born 1673)

Rosalba Carriera was an Italian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures. Carriera would later become known for her pastel portraits, helping popularize the medium in eighteenth-century Europe. She is remembered as one of the most successful women artists of any era.

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15/04/1754

Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (born 1676)

Jacopo Francesco Riccati was a Venetian mathematician and jurist from Venice, known for his widely influential work on solving differential equations. He is best known for having studied the equation that bears his name.

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15/04/1719

Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, French wife of Louis XIV (born 1635)

Françoise d'Aubigné, known first as Madame Scarron and subsequently as Madame de Maintenon, was a French noblewoman and the second wife of Louis XIV of France from 1683 until his death in 1715. Although she was never considered queen of France, as the marriage was carried out in secret, Madame de Maintenon had considerable political influence as one of the King's closest advisers and the governess of the royal children.

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15/04/1659

Simon Dach, German poet and hymnwriter (born 1605)

Simon Dach was a German lyrical poet and hymnwriter, born in Memel, Duchy of Prussia.

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15/04/1652

Patriarch Joseph of Moscow, Russian patriarch

Joseph was the sixth Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, elected after an unusual one and a half year break.

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15/04/1632

George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English politician, English Secretary of State (born 1580)

George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore was an English politician. He achieved domestic political success as a member of parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family. Rather than continue in politics, he resigned all of his political offices in 1625 except for his position on the Privy Council and declared his Catholicism publicly. He was created Baron Baltimore in the Peerage of Ireland upon his resignation. Baltimore Manor was located in County Longford, Ireland.

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15/04/1610

Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (born 1546)

Robert Persons, later known as Robert Parsons, was an English Jesuit priest. He was a major figure in establishing the 16th-century "English Mission" of the Society of Jesus.

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15/04/1578

Wolrad II, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg, German nobleman (born 1509)

Count Wolrad II "the Scholar" of Waldeck-Eisenberg, German: Wolrad II. 'der Gelehrte' Graf von Waldeck-Eisenberg, was Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg from 1539.

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15/04/1558

Hurrem Sultan, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent and the Haseki sultan of Ottoman Empire (born 1505)

Hürrem Sultan, also known as Roxelana, was the chief consort and legal wife of Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, mother of his successor Selim II, and the first haseki sultan of the Ottoman Empire. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history, and the first in a series of prominent women who lived during the period that came to be known as the Sultanate of Women.

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15/04/1502

John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange (born 1443)

John IV of Chalon-Arlay or John of Chalon was a prince of Orange and lord of Arlay. He played an important role in the Mad War, a series of conflicts in which aristocrats sought to resist the expansion and centralisation of power under the French monarch.

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15/04/1446

Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian sculptor and architect (born 1377)

Filippo di ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi, commonly known as Filippo Brunelleschi and also nicknamed Pippo by Leon Battista Alberti, was an Italian architect, designer, goldsmith, and sculptor. He is considered to be a founding father of Renaissance architecture. He is recognized as the first modern engineer, planner, and sole construction supervisor. In 1421, Brunelleschi became the first person to receive a patent in the Western world. He is most famous for designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, and for the mathematical technique of linear perspective in art which governed pictorial depictions of space until the late 19th century and influenced the rise of modern science. His accomplishments also include other architectural works, sculpture, mathematics, engineering, and ship design. Most surviving works can be found in Florence.

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15/04/1415

Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek philosopher and translator (born 1355)

Manuel Chrysoloras was a Byzantine Greek classical scholar, humanist, philosopher, professor, and translator of ancient Greek texts during the Renaissance. Serving as the ambassador for the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos in medieval Italy, he became a renowned teacher of Greek literature and history in the republics of Florence and Venice, and today he's widely regarded as a pioneer in the introduction of ancient Greek literature to Western Europe during the Late Middle Ages.

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15/04/1237

Richard Poore, English ecclesiastic

Richard Poore or Poor was a medieval English bishop best known for his role in the establishment of Salisbury Cathedral and the City of Salisbury, moved from the nearby fortress of Old Sarum. He served as Bishop of Chichester, Bishop of Salisbury and Bishop of Durham.

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15/04/1220

Adolf of Altena, German archbishop (born 1157)

Adolf of Altena, Adolf of Berg or Adolf of Cologne, was Archbishop of Cologne from 1193 to 1205.

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15/04/1136

Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare (born 1094)

Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare 3rd feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. A marcher lord in Wales, he was also the founder of Tonbridge Priory in Kent.

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15/04/1053

Godwin, Earl of Wessex (born 1001)

Godwin of Wessex was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who became one of the most powerful earls in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made Godwin the first Earl of Wessex. Godwin was the father of King Harold II and of Edith of Wessex, who in 1045 married King Edward the Confessor.

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15/04/0956

Lin Yanyu, Chinese court official and eunuch

Lin Yanyu was a powerful eunuch of the Southern Han dynasty of China.

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15/04/0943

Liu Bin, emperor of Southern Han (born 920)

Liu Bin, né Liu Hongdu (劉弘度), possibly nicknamed Shou (壽), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Shang of Southern Han (南漢殤帝), was the second emperor of the Chinese Southern Han dynasty. He reigned only briefly, from 942 to 943, from the time of the death of his father Liu Yan to the time he was assassinated in a coup headed by his brother Liu Hongxi.

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15/04/0628

Suiko, emperor of Japan (born 554)

Empress Suiko was the 33rd monarch of Japan, and the country's first and longest-reigning empress regnant, according to the traditional order of succession.

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