Died on Sunday, 20th April – Famous Deaths

20/04/2025

Hugo Gatti, Argentine footballer (born 1944)

Hugo Orlando Gatti was an Argentine football goalkeeper who played in the Argentine Primera División for 26 seasons and set a record of 765 league and 52 international appearances, totaling 817 games played. Gatti is the player with most appearances in the Argentine league ever.

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20/04/2024

Antonio Cantafora, Italian film and television actor (born 1944)

Antonio Cantafora, also known professionally as Michael Coby, was an Italian film and television actor.

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Andrew Davis, English conductor (born 1944)

Sir Andrew Frank Davis was an English conductor. He was the long-time chief conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He was music director at the Glyndebourne Festival from 1988 to 2000, and especially known for conducting the traditional Last Night of The Proms, including Last Night speeches. He was music director and principal conductor of the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2000 to the 2020/21 season.

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Roman Gabriel, Filipino-American NFL American footballer

Roman Ildonzo Gabriel Jr. was an American professional football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the NC State Wolfpack, earning first-team All-American honors twice. Gabriel was the second overall pick in the 1962 NFL draft and played 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, followed by five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was notable for being the first Filipino-American quarterback in the NFL and the first and only Asian American to win the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, which he received in 1969.

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Lourdes Portillo, Mexican film director, producer, and writer (born 1943)

Lourdes Portillo was a Mexican film director, producer, and writer. The political perspectives of Portillo's films have been described as "nuanced" and versed with a point of view balanced by her experience as a lesbian and Chicana woman. Portillo films have been widely studied and analyzed, particularly by scholars in the field of Chicano studies.

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20/04/2022

Gavin Millar, Scottish film director (born 1938)

Gavin Millar was a Scottish film director, critic and television presenter.

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20/04/2021

Idriss Déby, Chadian politician and military officer (born 1952)

Idriss Déby Itno was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the sixth president of Chad from 1991 until his death in 2021 during the Northern Chad offensive. His term of 30 years makes him Chad's longest-serving president.

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Monte Hellman, American film director (born 1929)

Monte Hellman was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the horror film Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), produced by Gene Corman, Roger Corman's brother.

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Les McKeown, Scottish pop singer (born 1955)

Leslie Richard McKeown was a Scottish singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the pop rock band Bay City Rollers during their most successful period in the 1970s. The band's original lead singer, Gordon "Nobby" Clark, decided to leave the band in 1972 after fulfilling his touring obligations and McKeown joined the band as their lead vocalist by 1973 and began to re-record his vocals on tracks including "Remember (Sha-La-La-La)" and "Saturday Night", which then became a US number 1 hit.

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20/04/2018

Avicii, Swedish DJ and musician (born 1989)

Tim Bergling, known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. His musical style is primarily house music, and he is an influence on many artists. Several music publications have credited Avicii as one of the DJs who took electronic music to Top 40 radio in the early 2010s. He is considered one of the most popular and successful electronic dance music (EDM) genre artists of all time.

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20/04/2016

Victoria Wood, British comedian, actress and writer (born 1953)

Victoria Wood was an English comedian, actress, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act was interspersed with her own compositions which she performed at the piano. Much of her humour was grounded in everyday life and included references to activities, attitudes and products that are considered to exemplify Britain. She was noted for her skills in observational comedy and in satirising aspects of social class.

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20/04/2014

Neville Wran, Australian politician, 35th Premier of New South Wales (born 1926)

Neville Kenneth Wran was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) from 1986 to 1991.

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20/04/2012

Bert Weedon, English guitarist and songwriter (born 1920)

Herbert Maurice William Weedon was an English guitarist whose style of playing was popular and influential during the 1950s and 1960s. He was the first British guitarist to have a hit record in the UK singles chart, in 1959, and his best-selling tutorial, Play in a Day, was a major influence on many leading British musicians, such as Eric Clapton, Brian May and Paul McCartney. He was awarded an OBE in 2001 for services to music.

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20/04/2011

Tim Hetherington, English photographer and journalist (born 1970)

Timothy Alistair Telemachus Hetherington was a British photojournalist. He produced books, films and other work that "ranged from multi-screen installations, to fly-poster exhibitions, to handheld device downloads" and was a regular contributor to Vanity Fair.

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20/04/2010

Dorothy Height, American educator and activist (born 1912)

Dorothy Irene Height was an African-American civil rights and women's rights activist. She focused on the issues of Foundational Black American women, including unemployment, illiteracy, and voter awareness. Height is credited as the first leader in the civil rights movement to recognize inequality for women and Foundational Black Americans as problems that should be considered as a whole. She was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years. Height's role in the "Big Six" civil rights movement was frequently ignored by the press due to sexism. In 1974, she was named to the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, which published the Belmont Report, a bioethics report in response to the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

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20/04/2008

Monica Lovinescu, Romanian journalist and author (born 1923)

Monica Lovinescu was a Romanian essayist, short story writer, literary critic, translator, and journalist, noted for her activities as an opponent of the Romanian Communist regime. She published several works under the pseudonyms Monique Saint-Come and Claude Pascal. She is the daughter of literary figure Eugen Lovinescu. She was married to the literary critic Virgil Ierunca.

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20/04/2007

Andrew Hill, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1931)

Andrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and composer.

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Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (born 1931)

Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of Beijing was a top leader of the Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA).

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20/04/2005

Fumio Niwa, Japanese journalist and author (born 1904)

Fumio Niwa was a Japanese novelist with a long list of works, the most famous in the West being his novel The Buddha Tree.

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20/04/2004

Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter (born 1956)

Martine-Elisabeth Mercier Descloux was a French musician, singer-songwriter, and composer associated with New York City's late 1970s no wave music scene. She recorded several albums on ZE Records beginning with her 1979 debut Press Color.

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20/04/2003

Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)

Sir Bernard Katz, FRS was a German-born British physician and biophysicist, noted for his work on nerve physiology; specifically, for his work on synaptic transmission at the nerve-muscle junction. He shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1970 with Julius Axelrod and Ulf von Euler. He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1969.

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20/04/2002

Alan Dale, American singer (born 1925)

Alan Dale was an American singer of traditional popular and rock and roll music.

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20/04/2001

Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (born 1946)

Giuseppe Sinopoli was an Italian conductor and composer.

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20/04/1999

Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (born 1958)

Richard Erwin Rood, better known by his ring name "Ravishing" Rick Rude, was an American professional wrestler who performed for various promotions, including the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

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Rachel Scott, American victim of Columbine High School massacre (born 1981)

Rachel Joy Scott was an American student who was the first fatality of the Columbine High School massacre, during which twelve other students and a teacher were also murdered by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who then committed suicide.

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Cassie Bernall, American victim of Columbine High School massacre (born 1981)

Cassie René Bernall was an American student who was killed in the Columbine High School massacre, where 12 more students and a teacher were killed by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who then committed suicide. It was reported that Bernall had been asked whether or not she believed in God, and she said "Yes", before being shot during the massacre. However, investigators concluded the person who was asked about her belief in God was not Cassie Bernall, but actually Valeen Schnurr, who survived the shooting.

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20/04/1996

Trần Văn Trà, Vietnamese general and politician (born 1918)

Nguyễn Chấn, known as Trần Văn Trà was a colonel-general in the People's Army of Vietnam. He was Commander of B2 Front during 1963 – 1967, Deputy Commander of Liberation Army of South Vietnam during 1968 – 1972; member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam from 1960 to 1982 and second chairman of Saigon administration after Fall of Saigon.

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20/04/1995

Milovan Đilas, Yugoslav communist, politician, theorist and author (born 1911)

Milovan Djilas was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well as in the post-war government. A self-identified democratic socialist, Djilas became one of the best-known and most prominent dissidents in Yugoslavia and all of Eastern Europe.

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20/04/1993

Cantinflas, Mexican actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1911)

Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes, known by the stage name Cantinflas, was a Mexican comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He is considered to have been the most widely accomplished Mexican comedian and is well known throughout Latin America and Spain.

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20/04/1992

Marjorie Gestring, American springboard diver (born 1922)

Marjorie Gestring was a competitive springboard diver from the United States. At the age of 13 years and 268 days, she won the gold medal in 3-meter springboard diving at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, making her at the time the youngest person ever to win an Olympic gold medal. She remains the second-youngest Olympic gold medalist, as of 2026. A multi-time national diving champion in the United States, she was given a second Olympic gold medal by the United States Olympic Committee after the 1940 Summer Olympics were called off due to the advent of World War II. Gestring attempted to return to the Olympics at the 1948 Games, but failed to qualify for the US team. She has been inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.

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Benny Hill, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1924)

Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill was an English comedian, actor and scriptwriter. He is best remembered for his television programme, The Benny Hill Show, a comedy-variety show that merged slapstick, burlesque, double entendre and innuendo in live and filmed segments with Hill in almost every one.

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20/04/1991

Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and producer (born 1947)

Stephen Peter Marriott was an English musician, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and appeared in the West End, before taking a role in music. He co-founded and played in the rock bands Small Faces and Humble Pie, in a career spanning over 20 years. Marriott was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces.

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Don Siegel, American director and producer (born 1912)

Donald Siegel was an American film and television director, producer, and editor. He was described by The New York Times as "a director of tough, cynical and forthright action-adventure films whose taut plots centered on individualistic loners".

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20/04/1986

Sibte Hassan, Pakistani journalist, scholar, and activist (born 1916)

Syed Sibt-e-Hasan was an eminent scholar, journalist and political activist of Pakistan. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of Socialism and Marxism in Pakistan, as well as the moving spirit behind the Progressive Writers Association.

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20/04/1982

Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (born 1892)

Archibald MacLeish was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action during the First World War and lived in Paris in the 1920s. On returning to the United States, he contributed to Henry Luce's magazine Fortune from 1929 to 1938. For five years, MacLeish was the ninth Librarian of Congress, a post he accepted at the urging of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. From 1949 to 1962, he was Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard. He was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.

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20/04/1980

M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (born 1924)

Mylvaganam Canagaratnam was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and Member of Parliament.

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20/04/1978

Lord Richard Cecil, British soldier and journalist in the Rhodesian Bush War

Lord Richard Valentine Gascoyne-Cecil was a British soldier, Conservative politician and freelance journalist who was killed in Rhodesia whilst covering the country's Bush War. The second son of the 6th Marquess of Salisbury, Cecil was in Rhodesia with a freelance film-maker, Nick Downie, recording material for a television documentary about the war. Carrying a rifle and wearing a Rhodesian Army uniform, he was shot dead at close range by a member of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army. The Rhodesian government reported that Cecil had been "killed in action"; his body was returned to the United Kingdom for burial.

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20/04/1969

Vjekoslav Luburić, Croatian Ustaše official and concentration camp administrator (born 1914)

Vjekoslav Luburić was a Croatian Ustaše official who headed the system of concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during much of World War II. Luburić also personally oversaw and spearheaded the contemporaneous genocides of Serbs, Jews and Roma in the NDH.

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20/04/1968

Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (born 1877)

Rudolph Dirks was one of the earliest and most noted comic strip artists, well known for The Katzenjammer Kids.

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20/04/1967

Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (born 1896)

Léo-Paul Desrosiers was a Quebec writer and journalist well known for his historical novels. He was influenced by the nationalism of Henri Bourassa and Lionel-Adolphe Groulx.

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20/04/1951

Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1873)

Ivanoe Bonomi was an Italian politician and journalist who served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1921 to 1922 and again from 1944 to 1945.

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20/04/1947

Christian X of Denmark (born 1870)

Christian X was King of Denmark from 1912 until his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, holding the title as a result of the personal union between Denmark and independent Iceland between 1918 and 1944.

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20/04/1946

Mae Busch, Australian actress (born 1891)

Mae Busch was an Australian-born actress who worked in both silent and sound films in early Hollywood. In the latter part of her career she appeared in many Laurel and Hardy comedies, frequently playing Hardy's shrewish wife.

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20/04/1945

Erwin Bumke, Polish-German jurist and politician (born 1874)

Erwin Konrad Eduard Bumke was the last president of the Reichsgericht, the supreme civil and criminal court of the German Reich, serving from 1929 to 1945. As such, according to the Weimar Constitution, he should have become acting President of Germany upon the death of Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934, and thus the acting Head of State of Nazi Germany. The Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich, passed by the Hitler cabinet, unconstitutionally prevented that by combining the presidency with the chancellorship, making Adolf Hitler the undisputed ruler of Germany. Following the Nazi takeover, Bumke extensively cooperated with the Party in establishing a Verbrecherstaat.

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20/04/1944

Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and pilot (born 1917)

Elmer John Gedeon was an American professional baseball player, appearing in several games for the Washington Senators in 1939. Gedeon and Harry O'Neill were the only two Major League Baseball players killed during World War II. Gedeon flew several missions in the European Theater of Operations as an officer of the United States Army Air Forces before being shot down over France.

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20/04/1942

Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, 6th State Elder of Estonia (born 1870)

Jüri Jaakson was an Estonian lawyer and statesman.

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20/04/1935

John Cameron, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1872)

John Cameron was a Scottish footballer and manager. He played as a forward for Queen's Park, Everton and Scotland and was noted as an effective goal-maker and goalscorer. In 1899 he became player-manager at Tottenham Hotspur and guided them to victory in the 1901 FA Cup. As a result, they became the only club outside the English Football League to win the competition. In 1898 he became the first secretary of the Association Footballers' Union, which was the ill-fated fore-runner of the Professional Footballers' Association. He later coached Dresdner SC and during the First World War he was interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp in Germany. After the war he coached Ayr United for one season and then became a football journalist, author and publisher. He had previously worked as a columnist for various newspapers before the war.

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Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer (born 1863)

Lucy Christiana, Lady Duff-Gordon was a leading British fashion designer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who worked under the professional name Lucile.

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20/04/1932

Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (born 1858)

Giuseppe Peano was an Italian mathematician and glottologist. The author of over 200 books and papers, he was a founder of mathematical logic and set theory, to which he contributed much notation, for instance, notations of set operations. The standard axiomatization of the natural numbers is named the Peano axioms in his honor. As part of this effort, he made key contributions to the modern rigorous and systematic treatment of the method of mathematical induction. He spent most of his career teaching mathematics at the University of Turin. He also created an international auxiliary language, Latino sine flexione, which is a simplified version of Classical Latin. Most of his books and papers are in Latino sine flexione, while others are in Italian.

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20/04/1931

Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, Scottish-English fencer and businessman (born 1862)

Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, DL was a prominent British aristocrat and sportsman who owned land in Scotland, best known for the controversy surrounding his escape from the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

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20/04/1929

Prince Henry of Prussia (born 1862)

Prince Heinrich of Prussia was a younger brother of German Emperor and King of Prussia Wilhelm II and a Prince of Prussia. Through his mother, he was also a grandson of Queen Victoria. A career naval officer, he held various commands in the Imperial German Navy and eventually rose to the rank of Grand Admiral and the office of Inspector General of the Navy.

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20/04/1927

Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and educator (born 1866)

Enrique Simonet Lombardo was a Spanish painter.

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20/04/1918

Jussi Merinen, Finnish politician (born 1873)

Juho Rikard Merinen was a Finnish trade unionist, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Turku Province North between May 1907 and July 1908. He was executed by the White Guard during the Finnish Civil War.

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Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1850)

Karl Ferdinand Braun was a German applied physicist who shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Guglielmo Marconi for their contributions to the development of radio. With his two circuit system, long range radio transmissions and modern telecommunications were made possible. His invention of the phased array antenna in 1905 led to the development of radar, smart antennas, and MIMO. Braun built the first cathode-ray tube in 1897, which led to the development of television, and the first semiconductor diode in 1874, which co-started the development of electronics and electronic engineering.

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20/04/1912

Bram Stoker, Anglo-Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (born 1847)

Abraham Stoker was an Irish writer, barrister, and theatre manager. He was the author of Dracula (1897) and the creator of the fictional character Count Dracula. The novel and its antagonist are milestones in the fields of Gothic and vampire literature.

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20/04/1902

Joaquim de Sousa Andrade, Brazilian poet and educator (born 1833)

Joaquim de Sousa Andrade, better known by his pseudonym Sousândrade, was a Brazilian poet, adept of the "Condorist" movement. His poetry, exceedingly innovative for the time it was published, is now considered an early example of Symbolism and Modernism in Brazil.

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20/04/1899

Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (born 1820)

Joseph Wolf was a German artist who specialized in natural history illustration. He moved to the British Museum in 1848 and became the preferred illustrator for explorers and naturalists including David Livingstone, Alfred Russel Wallace and Henry Walter Bates. Wolf depicted animals accurately in lifelike postures and is considered one of the great pioneers of wildlife art. Sir Edwin Landseer thought him "...without exception, the best all-round animal artist who ever lived".

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20/04/1887

Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Greek-Egyptian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Egypt (born 1826)

Mohamed Sherif Pasha GCSI was an Egyptian statesman. He served as Prime Minister of Egypt three times during his career. His first term was between 7 April 1879 and 18 August 1879. His second term was served from 14 September 1881 to 4 February 1882. His final term was served between 21 August 1882 and 7 January 1884.

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20/04/1886

Charles-François-Frédéric, marquis de Montholon-Sémonville, French general and diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (born 1814)

Charles François Frédéric de Montholon-Sémonville was a French senator, diplomat, and French ambassador to the United States from 1864 to 1866.

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20/04/1881

William Burges, English architect and designer (born 1827)

William Burges was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoclassical architectural style and re-establish the architectural and social values of a utopian medieval England. Burges stands within the tradition of the Gothic Revival, his works echoing those of the Pre-Raphaelites and heralding those of the Arts and Crafts movement.

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20/04/1874

Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (born 1817)

Alexander Hamilton Bailey was an American politician, a United States representative and judge from New York.

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20/04/1873

William Tite, English architect, designed the Royal Exchange (born 1798)

Sir William Tite was an English architect who twice served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was particularly associated with various London buildings, with railway stations and cemetery projects. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath from 1855 until his death.

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20/04/1831

John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (born 1764)

John Abernethy was an English surgeon. He is popularly remembered for having given his name to the Abernethy biscuit, a coarse-meal baked good meant to aid digestion.

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20/04/1769

Chief Pontiac, American tribal leader (born 1720)

Pontiac or Obwaandi'eyaag was an Odawa war chief known for his role in the war named for him, from 1763 to 1766 leading Native Americans in an armed struggle against the British in the Great Lakes region due to, among other reasons, dissatisfaction with British policies. It followed the British victory in the French and Indian War, the American front of the Seven Years' War. Pontiac's importance in the war that bears his name has been debated. Historical accounts from the 19th century portrayed him as the mastermind and leader of the revolt, but some subsequent scholars argued that his role had been exaggerated. Historians today generally view him as an important local leader who influenced a wider movement that he did not command.

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20/04/1703

Lancelot Addison, English clergyman and educator (born 1632)

Lancelot Addison was an English writer and Church of England clergyman. He was born at Crosby Ravensworth in Westmorland. He was educated at the Queen's College, Oxford.

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20/04/1643

Christoph Demantius, German composer and poet (born 1567)

Johann Christoph Demantius was a German composer, music theorist, writer and poet. He was an exact contemporary of Monteverdi, and represented a transitional phase in German Lutheran music from the polyphonic Renaissance style to the early Baroque.

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20/04/1558

Johannes Bugenhagen, German priest and theologian (born 1485)

Johannes Bugenhagen, also called Doctor Pomeranus by Martin Luther, was a German theologian and Lutheran priest who introduced the Protestant Reformation in the Duchy of Pomerania and Denmark in the 16th century. Contributions of Karlstadt and Luther to the translation of theology into social legislation were most fully realized by Bugenhagen. Among his major accomplishments was organization of Lutheran churches in Northern Germany and Scandinavia. He has also been called the "Second Apostle of the North".

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20/04/1534

Elizabeth Barton, English nun and martyr (born 1506)

Elizabeth Barton, known as "The Nun of Kent", "The Holy Maid of London", "The Holy Maid of Kent" and later "The Mad Maid of Kent", was an English Catholic nun. She was executed as a result of her prophecies against the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn.

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20/04/1521

Zhengde, Chinese emperor (born 1491)

The Zhengde Emperor, personal name Zhu Houzhao, was the 11th emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1505 to 1521. He succeeded his father, the Hongzhi Emperor.

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20/04/1502

Mary of Looz-Heinsberg, Dutch noble (born 1424)

Lady Mary of Looz-Heinsberg, Dutch: Maria van Loon-Heinsberg, was a noble lady from the House of Looz and through marriage Countess of Nassau-Siegen.

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20/04/1344

Gersonides, French Jewish philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, physician, and astronomer (born 1288)

Levi ben Gershon, better known by his Graecized name as Gersonides, or by his Latinized name Magister Leo Hebraeus, or in Hebrew by the abbreviation of first letters as RaLBaG, was a medieval French Jewish philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, physician and astronomer/astrologer. He was born at Bagnols in Languedoc, France. According to Abraham Zacuto and others, he was the son of Gerson ben Solomon Catalan.

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20/04/1322

Simon Rinalducci, Italian Augustinian friar

Simon Rinalducci of Todi was a famous Italian Augustinian friar and preacher of the 13th century.

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20/04/1314

Pope Clement V (born 1264)

Pope Clement V was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1305 until his death. He is remembered for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar and allowing the execution of many of its members. A Frenchman by birth, Clement moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon, ushering in the period known as the Avignon Papacy.

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20/04/1284

Hōjō Tokimune, regent of Japan (born 1251)

Hōjō Tokimune of the Hōjō clan was the eighth shikken of the Kamakura shogunate, known for leading the Japanese forces against the invasion of the Mongols and for spreading Zen Buddhism. He was the second son of Tokiyori, fifth shikken of the Kamakura shogunate. From birth, Tokimune was seen as the successor of tokusō, the head of the Hōjō clan. In 1268 AD, at the age of 18, he became shikken himself. During his lifetime, the seats of power of the Japanese Emperor, Imperial Regent (sesshō), Imperial Chief Advisor (kampaku), and the shōgun had all been completely marginalized by the Hōjō shikken.

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20/04/1248

Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (born 1206)

Güyük Khan or Güyüg Khagan, mononymously Güyüg, was the third Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the eldest son of Ögedei Khan and a grandson of Genghis Khan. He reigned from 1246 to 1248. He started his military career by participating in the conquest of Eastern Xia in China and later in the invasion of Europe. When his father died, he was enthroned as Khagan in 1246. During his almost two year reign, he reversed some of his mother's unpopular edicts and ordered an empire-wide census; he also held some authority in Eastern Europe, appointing Andrey II as the grand prince of Vladimir and giving the princely title of Kiev to Alexander Nevsky.

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20/04/1176

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English-Irish politician, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (born 1130)

Richard de Clare, the second Earl of Pembroke, also Lord of Leinster and Justiciar of Ireland, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman notable for his leading role in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. Like his father, Richard is commonly known by his nickname, Strongbow.

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20/04/1164

Antipope Victor IV

Victor IV was elected as a Ghibelline antipope in 1159, following the death of Pope Adrian IV and the election of Alexander III. His election was supported by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He took the name Victor IV, not acknowledging Antipope Victor IV of 1138, whose holding of the papal office was deemed illegitimate.

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20/04/1099

Peter Bartholomew (born 1061)

Peter Bartholomew was a French soldier and mystic who was part of the First Crusade as part of the army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles. Peter was initially a servant to William, Lord of Cunhlat.

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20/04/0888

Xi Zong, Chinese emperor (born 862)

Year 888 (DCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.

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20/04/0689

Cædwalla, king of Wessex (born 659)

Cædwalla was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the Welsh Cadwallon. He was exiled from Wessex as a youth and during this period gathered forces and attacked the South Saxons, killing their king, Æthelwealh, in what is now Sussex. Cædwalla was unable to hold the South Saxon territory, however, and was driven out by Æthelwealh's ealdormen. In either 685 or 686, he became King of Wessex. He may have been involved in suppressing rival dynasties at this time, as an early source records that Wessex was ruled by underkings until Cædwalla.

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