Tuesday, 28th April 2026 in Prag

28th April in the Stars – Star Sign Taurus

Today, the zodiac sign Taurus celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality Those born on April 28 blend Taurus steadiness with Saturn's discipline into a distinctive character. They are grounded and pragmatic, yet numerology 5 introduces a desire for change and flexibility. This combination makes them reliable yet surprisingly adaptable to new circumstances.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their strengths include endurance, sensual intelligence, and structured thinking. They pursue goals methodically and create lasting results. Weaknesses emerge from stubbornness—they can become inflexible when challenged—and a tension between duty and pleasure-seeking.

Love April 28 natives love deeply and durably. They value physical and emotional intimacy equally, building stable, sensual partnerships. Their Saturn influence ensures loyalty, while Venus bestows passion and tenderness in relationships.

Caree & Finance Those born this day thrive in roles blending creativity with structure: design, finance, management. They earn well through perseverance and practical skill. Financial stability is their hallmark, though they sometimes avoid beneficial risks.

Health These individuals need regular physical activity to channel their sensual energy productively. Indulgences are best enjoyed in moderation. They find mental peace in nature and artistic pursuits—balance counters their intense work habits.

That night, the moon was in its waning crescent phase.

Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).

Fun Facts About 28th April

Name Days in Your Language: Valeria, Valerian, Valerie, Valery

Someone born on this day would be just 35 days old today — roughly 849 hours, 50,964 minutes, or 3,057,892 seconds spent on Earth so far.

It's the 118. day of the year. In 2026, 28th April falls on a Tuesday.

There are 247 days still to come.

We’re currently in Week 18 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 28th April

On this day, 189 notable people were born on 28th April — spanning from 32 to 2001. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

28/04/2001

Anthony Volpe, American baseball player

Anthony Michael Volpe is an American professional baseball shortstop for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Yankees selected Volpe in the first round of the 2019 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2023, winning the American League Gold Glove Award at shortstop in his rookie year.

28/04/2000

Victoria De Angelis, Italian musician

Victoria De Angelis, also known mononymously as Victoria, is an Italian bass player, songwriter, producer, and DJ. She founded the rock band Måneskin in 2016 in Rome alongside guitarist Thomas Raggi, lead vocalist Damiano David, and drummer Ethan Torchio, with whom she won the Sanremo Music Festival 2021 and subsequently the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 for Italy with the song "Zitti e buoni". In 2024, De Angelis started her solo musical career with the single "Get Up Bitch! Shake Ya Ass", a collaboration with Brazilian singer Anitta.

Alek Thomas, American baseball player

Alek Thomas is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks where he made his MLB debut in 2022. He has also played for the Mexico national baseball team.

28/04/1998

Song Yu-bin, South Korean singer and actor

Song Yu-bin, commonly referred to as Song Yuvin, is a South Korean singer and actor. He is best known as a contestant of Superstar K6 and Produce X 101, and for being one of the vocalists of the South Korean group Myteen. Following Myteen's disbandment in 2019, he debuted as a member of the duo B.O.Y, until their disbandment in April 2021.

28/04/1997

Shane McClanahan, American baseball player

Shane Peter McClanahan is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2020 and was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023.

Denzel Ward, American football player

Denzel Nehemiah Ward is an American professional football cornerback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and was selected by the Browns fourth overall in the 2018 NFL draft.

28/04/1995

Connor Clifton, American ice hockey player

Connor Clifton is an American professional ice hockey player who is a defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played college ice hockey with Quinnipiac University.

Melanie Martinez, American singer

Melanie Adele Martinez is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, New York, Martinez rose to fame in 2012 after appearing on season 3 of the American television talent show The Voice. Following the show, she was signed to Atlantic Records and released her debut single "Dollhouse", followed by her debut extended play of the same name (2014).

28/04/1994

Jakob Butturff, American bowler

Jakob Butturff is a left-handed American ten-pin bowler from Chandler, Arizona and a member of the Professional Bowlers Association. He competes in events on the PBA Tour and in global events as a member of Team USA. He has won eight national PBA Tour titles and 27 PBA Regional Tour titles. Jakob also rolled the 28th of the PBA Tour's 35 televised 300 games.

Wonpil, South Korean musician

Kim Won-pil, known mononymously as Wonpil, is a South Korean singer and musician. He is the keyboardist of pop rock band Day6 and its sub unit Even of Day under JYP Entertainment. His debut album Pilmography debuted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart in February 2022.

28/04/1993

Matt Chapman, American baseball player

Matthew James Chapman is an American professional baseball third baseman for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays.

Eva Samková, Czech snowboarder

Eva Adamczyková, née Samková is a Czech snowboarder who is the 2014 Olympic champion in snowboard cross. She is also the 2019 and 2023 World Champion in the same discipline.

28/04/1992

Blake Bortles, American football player

Robby Blake Bortles is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football for the UCF Knights, winning AAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2013. Bortles was selected by the Jaguars third overall in the 2014 NFL draft.

DeMarcus Lawrence, American football player

DeMarcus Lawrence is an American professional football linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Butler Community College Grizzlies and Boise State Broncos. Lawrence was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft. He spent 11 seasons with the Cowboys before signing with the Seahawks in 2025. He won Super Bowl LX the same year.

28/04/1989

Emil Salomonsson, Swedish footballer

Karl Emil Salomonsson is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a right-back.

Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer

Kim Sung-kyu, referred to as Sunggyu or Sungkyu, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and actor. He is the leader and main vocalist of South Korean boy band Infinite.

28/04/1988

Jonathan Biabiany, French footballer

Jonathan Ludovic Biabiany is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for Spanish club Antequera. Between 2008 and 2014, he was regarded as the fastest footballer in the world.

Juan Mata, Spanish footballer

Juan Manuel Mata García is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for A-League Men club Melbourne Victory. He primarily plays as an attacking midfielder, but can also play as a winger.

28/04/1987

Daequan Cook, American basketball player

Daequan Cook is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Ironi Nes Ziona of the Israeli Premier League. He was taken 21st overall in the 2007 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers then subsequently traded to the Miami Heat.

Drew Gulak, American wrestler

Drew Gulak is an American professional wrestler currently performing on the independent circuit. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he was a former one-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion and eight-time WWE 24/7 Champion.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian actress and model

Samantha Ruth Prabhu is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Telugu and Tamil films. One of South India's highest-paid actresses, Samantha is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards South, two Nandi Awards and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award.

Bradley Johnson, English footballer

Bradley Paul Johnson is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, he now works as a football coach.

Zoran Tošić, Serbian footballer

Zoran Tošić is a Serbian former footballer who played as a winger. He built a reputation as a free-kick specialist and a tricky dribbler.

28/04/1986

Roman Polák, Czech ice hockey player

Roman Polák is a Czech former professional ice hockey defenceman. Polák was drafted in the sixth round, 180th overall, at the 2004 NHL entry draft by the St. Louis Blues, the organization with which he spent his entire NHL career prior to joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014. He rejoined the Maple Leafs in 2016, after a brief stint with the San Jose Sharks. In the 2018 offseason, Polák signed a one-year deal with the Dallas Stars. Polák began and ended his career in his native Czech Republic with HC Vítkovice of the Czech Extraliga (ELH).

Jenna Ushkowitz, Korean-American actress, singer, and dancer

Jenna Noelle Ushkowitz, is an American actress, singer, producer and podcast host. She is known for her performances in Broadway musicals such as The King and I and Waitress and in the role of Tina Cohen-Chang on the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee, for which she received a Grammy Award nomination. She is a two-time Tony Award winner for her work as a producer of the Broadway musical Once on This Island and the Broadway play The Inheritance.

28/04/1985

Lucas Jakubczyk, German sprinter and long jumper

Lucas Jakubczyk is a German athlete who competes in the sprint and long jump with a personal best time of 10.07 seconds at the 100 metres event.

Deividas Stagniūnas, Lithuanian ice dancer

Deividas Stagniūnas is a Lithuanian former ice dancer. With Isabella Tobias, he is the 2011 Skate America bronze medalist and placed in the top ten at two European Championships. They represented Lithuania at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where Stagniūnas was the flagbearer.

28/04/1984

Dmitri Torbinski, Russian footballer

Dmitri Yevgenyevich Torbinski is a Russian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was a central midfielder and winger known for his pace and accurate crosses.

28/04/1983

Josh Brookes, Australian motorcycle racer

Joshua Andrew Brookes is a professional road racer of motorcycles with experience of Superbike and Supersport racing, both domestically and internationally. For 2023, Brookes joined FHO Racing aboard a BMW M1000RR.

David Freese, American baseball player

David Richard Freese is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He began his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009, where, two seasons later, he was a key player during the 2011 postseason, batting .545 with 12 hits in the 2011 National League Championship Series (NLCS). At the time, he also set an MLB postseason record of 21 runs batted in (RBIs), which earned him the NLCS MVP Award and World Series MVP Award. In addition, Freese won the Babe Ruth Award, naming him the MVP of the 2011 MLB postseason. He also played for the Los Angeles Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Roger Johnson, English footballer

Roger Johnson is an English football manager and retired footballer who was most recently manager at Brackley Town.

Thomas Waldrom, New Zealand-English rugby player

Thomas Waldrom is a former rugby union player who played for Exeter Chiefs in the English Premiership and represented England from 2012 to 2014. Born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, he qualified for England through his grandmother, winning four caps.

28/04/1982

Nikki Grahame, English model and journalist (died 2021)

Nicola Rachel-Beth Grahame was an English television personality and author. She was a contestant on the seventh series of the reality show Big Brother in 2006, which she finished in fifth place. Following the show, she starred in her own reality series Princess Nikki, and won a National Television Award for Most Popular TV Contender. In 2010, Grahame was runner-up in Ultimate Big Brother, and in 2015, she appeared as a guest housemate on the sixteenth series of Big Brother. In 2016, she competed in the fourth season of Big Brother Canada, finishing in sixth place.

Chris Kaman, American basketball player

Christopher Zane Kaman is a German-American former professional basketball player. Kaman stands 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) and played the center position. He was selected sixth overall in the first round of the 2003 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, after a college basketball career at Central Michigan University.

28/04/1981

Jessica Alba, American model and actress

Jessica Marie Alba is an American actress and businesswoman. She rose to prominence at age 19 for portraying Max Guevara, the lead character in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. Her cinematic breakthrough came shortly after with the lead role in Honey (2003).

28/04/1980

Bradley Wiggins, English cyclist

Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins is an English former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to road cycling. He enjoyed an illustrious career, highlighted by his historic victory in 2012 as the first British winner of the Tour de France. He became Great Britain’s most decorated Olympian, amassing eight medals across five Games, and remains the only rider in history to have won both World and Olympic titles on the track and the road. In 2015 he broke the world hour record with a distance of 54.526 kilometres. He has also won several other stage races, and won the Vélo d'Or in 2012. He received a Knighthood in 2013 for services to cycling.

28/04/1979

Scott Fujita, American football player and sportscaster

Scott Anthony Fujita is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears. He was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2002 NFL draft. He played in the NFL for the Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, and Cleveland Browns. He was a member of the 2009 Saints team that won Super Bowl XLIV, defeating the Indianapolis Colts.

28/04/1978

Lauren Laverne, English singer and television and radio host

Lauren Cecilia Fisher, known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio and television presenter, author and singer. She was the lead singer and guitarist in the alternative rock band Kenickie.

28/04/1977

Titus O'Neil, American wrestler and football player

Thaddeus Michael Bullard is an American professional wrestler and former arena football player. He is signed to WWE as a Global Ambassador. Described by the company as "one of the most philanthropic superstars in WWE history," Bullard is the recipient of the WWE Hall of Fame 2020 Warrior Award.

28/04/1975

Michael Walchhofer, Austrian skier

Michael Walchhofer is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria.

28/04/1974

Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress and producer

Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Prolific in Spanish and English-language films, her accolades include an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, a David di Donatello and three Goya Awards.

Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player and coach (died 2011)

Małgorzata Teresa Dydek-Twigg, better known as Margo Dydek, was a Polish professional basketball player. Standing 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) tall, she was the tallest professional female basketball player in the world. Playing center position, she won nine national championships in Poland and four in Spain during her career. Outside of Europe, she played 11 seasons in the WNBA, for three teams, and was a coach for the Northside Wizards in the Queensland Basketball League. She was awarded the Polish Gold Cross of Merit (1999).

Vernon Kay, English radio and television host

Vernon Charles Kay is an English broadcaster and former model. He presented Channel 4's T4 (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV and BBC, including All Star Family Fortunes (2006–2015), Just the Two of Us (2006–2007), Beat the Star (2008–2009), The Whole 19 Yards (2010), Splash! (2013–2014), and 1000 Heartbeats (2015–2016).

Dominic Matteo, Scottish footballer and journalist

Dominic Matteo is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder in a 17-year professional career from 1992 to 2009. He made a total of 366 league and cup appearances, of which 276 were in the Premier League.

28/04/1973

Jorge Garcia, American actor and producer

Jorge Garcia is an American actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker, but subsequently became best known for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost from 2004 to 2010. He starred in the Fox television series Alcatraz and played a minor character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He starred as Jerry Ortega on Hawaii Five-0 and can be seen in the Netflix film The Ridiculous 6. Recently, he starred in the comedy series Bookie (2023-2025). Garcia also appeared on the cover of Weezer's 2010 album Hurley in a close-up shot from a photo he took with vocalist Rivers Cuomo.

Andrew Mehrtens, South African-New Zealand rugby player

Andrew Philip Mehrtens is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks in 1995 when he played in the 1995 World Cup.

28/04/1972

Violent J, American rapper

Joseph Frank Bruce, known by his stage name Violent J, is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler, actor, and part of the hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse (ICP). He is a co-founder of the record label Psychopathic Records, with fellow ICP rapper Shaggy 2 Dope and their former manager, Alex Abbiss. Also along with Utsler, Bruce is the co-founder of the professional wrestling promotion Juggalo Championship Wrestling.

Jean-Paul van Gastel, Dutch footballer and manager

Jacobus Johannes Martinus Paulus "Jean-Paul" van Gastel is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of Super League club PSIM Yogyakarta.

28/04/1971

Bridget Moynahan, American actress

Kathryn Bridget Moynahan is an American actress and former model. She graduated from Longmeadow High School in Massachusetts in 1989 and began pursuing a career in modeling. Moynahan appeared in department-store catalogs and magazines, and after doing television commercials, began taking acting lessons. She made her television debut in a guest appearance in the comedy series Sex and the City in 1999, where she later had a recurring role as Natasha.

28/04/1970

Richard Fromberg, Australian tennis player

Richard James Fromberg is a former professional tennis player from Australia.

Nicklas Lidström, Swedish ice hockey player and scout

Erik Nicklas Lidström is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman and current vice president of hockey operations for the Detroit Red Wings. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings from 1991 to 2012, where he played in six Stanley Cup Finals, winning four championships, and captained the team for the final six seasons of his career. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defencemen in NHL history and nicknamed "the Perfect Human."

Diego Simeone, Argentinian footballer and manager

Diego Pablo Simeone González, nicknamed "Cholo", is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He has been the manager of La Liga club Atlético Madrid since December 2011, making him the second longest serving manager in Europe currently.

28/04/1969

LeRon Perry Ellis, American basketball player

LeRon Perry Ellis is an American former professional basketball player. Ellis was considered to be one of the premier high school basketball players in the nation among the class of 1987 while playing for the top-ranked Southern California prep school squad Mater Dei. Ellis was drafted into the NBA after a mixed college basketball performance at the University of Kentucky and Syracuse University. He suffered several unsuccessful stints in the NBA over three non-consecutive seasons but spent the majority of his professional basketball career playing overseas.

28/04/1968

Petra Bayr, Austrian politician

Petra Bayr, also known as Penny Bayr, is an Austrian politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) who has been serving as a member of the National Council since 2022, representing the Vienna South district.

Howard Donald, English singer-songwriter and producer

Howard Paul Donald is an English singer, songwriter, drummer, pianist, dancer, DJ and record producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That. He was also judge on the German reality talent show Got to Dance from 2013 to 2014, during a Take That hiatus.

Andy Flower, South-African-Zimbabwean cricketer and coach

Andrew Flower is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and a former cricketer. As a cricketer, he captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team and is widely regarded as the greatest Zimbabwean cricketer ever and one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters of all time. He was Zimbabwe's wicket-keeper for more than 10 years and is, statistically, the greatest batsman the country has produced. His highest score in ODI cricket which was his 145 he made against India in the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy is also the highest score made by a Zimbabwe player at any tournaments. During his peak from October to December 2001, Flower was ranked as the best Test batsman in the world. He was widely acknowledged as the only Zimbabwe batsman of proper test quality in any conditions. After retirement, he served as the coach of the English cricket team from 2009 to 2014. Under his coaching, England won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. Flower became the second foreign coach in the team's history. Currently, he is the head coach of London Spirit in The Hundred and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

28/04/1967

Chris White, English engineer and politician

Christopher Mark Francis White is a British Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Warwick and Leamington from 2010 to 2017. He lost the seat at the 2017 general election. White is currently Director of the Institute for Industrial Strategy at King's College London.

28/04/1966

John Daly, American golfer

John Patrick Daly is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions. Daly is known primarily for his driving distance off the tee, his non-country-club appearance and attitude, his exceptionally long backswing, the inconsistency of his play, and his personal life. His two greatest on-course accomplishments are his "zero-to-hero" victory in the 1991 PGA Championship, and his playoff victory over Costantino Rocca in the 1995 Open Championship.

Too Short, American rapper, producer and actor

Todd Anthony Shaw, known professionally as Too Short, is an American rapper. A pioneer of West Coast hip-hop, Shaw was among the first acts to receive recognition in the genre during the late 1980s. His lyrics were often based on pimping and promiscuity, but also drug culture and street survival; exemplified respectively in his most popular singles "Blow the Whistle" and "The Ghetto". He is one of few acts to have worked with both Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. at the heights of their respective careers.

28/04/1964

Stephen Ames, Trinidadian golfer

Stephen Michael Ames is a professional golfer formerly of the PGA Tour, who now plays on the PGA Tour Champions. The biggest win of his career was at The Players Championship in 2006. He holds dual citizenship of Trinidad and Tobago and Canada.

Noriyuki Iwadare, Japanese composer

Noriyuki Iwadare is a Japanese video game composer. Some of his work include the Langrisser, Lunar, Grandia, and Ace Attorney series.

Ajay Kakkar, Baron Kakkar, English surgeon and academic

Ajay Kumar Kakkar, Baron Kakkar is an emeritus professor of surgery at University College London and a life peer.

Barry Larkin, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster

Barry Louis Larkin is an American former professional baseball shortstop. As a player he spent his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Cincinnati Reds from 1986 to 2004.

L'Wren Scott, American model and fashion designer (died 2014)

Laura "Luann" Bambrough, known professionally as L'Wren Scott, was an American model, fashion designer, and stylist.

28/04/1963

Lloyd Eisler, Canadian figure skater and coach

Lloyd Edgar Eisler, MSM, is a former Canadian pairs skater. With partner Isabelle Brasseur, he was the 1992 and 1994 Olympic bronze medallist and the 1993 World Champion.

Marc Lacroix, Belgian biochemist and academic

Marc Guy Albert Marie Lacroix is a Belgian biochemist and a researcher who specializes in breast cancer biology, metastasis and therapy.

28/04/1960

Tom Browning, American baseball player (died 2022)

Thomas Leo Browning was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1984 to 1995, spending almost his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds. In his rookie season in 1985, Browning won 20 games and was runner-up for the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award; he was the Reds' first 20-game winner in 15 years, and equaled the most wins by a Cincinnati lefthander since 1925. He quickly became a mainstay in the team's pitching rotation, leading the NL in games started four of the next five years. Browning pitched the twelfth perfect game in major league history on September 16, 1988, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, just the third perfect game by a lefthander; it was the highlight of a season in which he was 18–5, posting the league's second-highest winning percentage. He helped the Reds to a sweep in the 1990 World Series, winning Game 3 against the defending champion Oakland Athletics. In 1991, his last full season, Browning was named to the NL All-Star team.

Elena Kagan, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Elena Kagan is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and is the fourth woman to serve on the Court.

Phil King, English bass player

Philip Peter King is an English musician perhaps best known for being the bassist of Lush. From 2007 to 2015 he was the touring bass/rhythm guitar player for The Jesus and Mary Chain having previously toured with the group from 1997 to 1998.

Ian Rankin, Scottish author

Sir Ian James Rankin is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.

Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strongman and weightlifter (died 1993)

Jón Páll Sigmarsson was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder. He was the first man to win the World's Strongest Man four times, the only man to win the World Muscle Power Classic five times and the only man to win Pure Strength individual title.

Walter Zenga, Italian footballer and manager

Walter Zenga is an Italian professional football manager and former player.

28/04/1958

Hal Sutton, American golfer

Hal Evan Sutton is an American professional golfer, currently playing on the PGA Tour Champions, who achieved 14 victories on the PGA Tour, including the 1983 PGA Championship and the 1983 and 2000 Players Championships. Sutton was also the PGA Tour's leading money winner in 1983 and named Player of the Year.

28/04/1956

Jimmy Barnes, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

James Dixon Barnes is an Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time. By 2022 he had achieved 15 solo number-one albums in Australia, more than any other artist. He has won many awards, and been nominated for many more. In 2005 he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a solo artist, after also having been an inductee in 1992 as a member of Cold Chisel. His music has covered many genres, including hard rock, blues rock, soul, R&B, country, country rock, and electronic. Some of his albums were recorded at his own recording studio, Freight Train Studios.

28/04/1955

Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator (died 2020)

Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat was a Palestinian politician and diplomat who was the secretary general of the executive committee of the PLO from 2015 until his death in 2020. He served as chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee until 12 February 2011. He participated in early negotiations with Israel and remained chief negotiator from 1995 until May 2003, when he resigned in protest from the Palestinian government. He reconciled with the party and was reappointed to the post in September 2003. Erekat died in the Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem of complications from COVID-19 on 10 November 2020, at the age of 65.

Eddie Jobson, English keyboard player and violinist

Edwin Jobson is an English musician who has been a member of several rock bands including Curved Air, Roxy Music, U.K., and Jethro Tull. He was also part of Frank Zappa's band in 1976–77. Noted for his keyboard work, Jobson has also gained acclaim for his violin playing. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards. In March 2019 Jobson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Roxy Music.

28/04/1954

Timothy Curley, American educator

Timothy M. Curley is a former athletic director for Penn State University.

Michael P. Jackson, American politician, 3rd Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security

Michael Peter Jackson is an American former government official who served as the George W. Bush administration's Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, beginning in March 2005 and ending with his resignation in October 2007. Jackson is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Vic Sotto, Filipino actor-producer, singer-songwriter, comedian and television personality

Marvic Valentin "Vic" Castelo Sotto, popularly known as Bossing, is a Filipino actor, comedian, and television presenter. Active in Philippine film and television since the 1970s, he is known for his comedic roles in sitcoms and films. He is also one of the original hosts of Eat Bulaga!, alongside his elder brother Tito Sotto and Joey de Leon.

Ron Zook, American football player and coach

Ronald Andrew Zook is an American football coach who is a special teams quality control coach at the University of Maryland. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2004 and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2005 to 2011.

28/04/1953

Roberto Bolaño, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist (died 2003)

Roberto Bolaño Ávalos was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel The Savage Detectives, and in 2008 he was posthumously awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for his novel 2666, which was described by board member Marcela Valdes as a "work so rich and dazzling that it will surely draw readers and scholars for ages".

Kim Gordon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Kim Althea Gordon is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, where her father was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. After graduating from Los Angeles's Otis College of Art and Design, she moved to New York City to begin an art career. There, she formed Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore in 1981. She and Moore married in 1984, and the band released a total of six albums on independent labels before the end of the 1980s. It then released nine studio albums on the label DGC Records, beginning with Goo in 1990. Gordon was also a founding member of the musical project Free Kitten, which she formed with Julia Cafritz in 1993.

Brian Greenhoff, English footballer and coach (died 2013)

Brian Greenhoff was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Manchester United, Leeds United and Rochdale. He was capped 18 times for England.

28/04/1952

Chuck Leavell, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player

Charles Alfred Leavell is an American musician. A member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the principal touring keyboardist and musical director of the Rolling Stones since 1982. As a session musician, Leavell has performed on every Rolling Stones studio album released since 1983 with the exception of Bridges to Babylon (1997) and Hackney Diamonds (2023). He has also toured and recorded with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Gov't Mule, Train, John Mayer, and Widespread Panic.

Mary McDonnell, American actress

Mary Eileen McDonnell is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in Dances With Wolves and May-Alice Culhane in Passion Fish. McDonnell is well known for her performances as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica, First Lady Marilyn Whitmore in Independence Day, and Rose in Donnie Darko. She was featured as Captain Sharon Raydor during seasons 5–7 of the TNT series The Closer and starred as Commander Sharon Raydor in the spin-off series Major Crimes on the same network. In 2023, she played Madeleine Usher in the miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix.

28/04/1951

Tim Congdon, English economist and politician

Timothy George Congdon CBE is a British economist.

Larry Smith, Canadian football player and politician

Larry W. Smith, CQ is a Canadian athlete, businessperson and former member of the Senate of Canada. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from April 2017 until November 2019.

28/04/1950

Willie Colón, American salsa musician and social activist (died 2026)

William Anthony Colón Román was an American salsa musician and social activist. He began his career as a trombonist but also sang, wrote, produced and acted. Colón was a pioneer of salsa music and a best-selling artist in the genre, having been a key figure in the beginnings of the New York City scene associated with Fania Records. He was also noteworthy for having assumed the gangster image in his album covers before it was culturally popular. From the 1980s on, he was at times deeply involved in the politics of New York City. His hit songs include "Aguanilé" with Hector Lavoe, "Tiburón", and "El gran varón".

Jay Leno, American comedian, talk show host, and producer

James Douglas Muir Leno is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, Leno was chosen in 1992 to replace Johnny Carson as the host of NBC's The Tonight Show; Leno hosted The Tonight Show until September 2009 when Conan O'Brien took over as host and Leno started a primetime talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET, also on NBC. O'Brien turned down NBC's offer to have Leno host a half hour monologue show before The Tonight Show to boost ratings amid reported viewership diminishing, which sparked the 2010 Tonight Show conflict that resulted in Leno's returning to hosting the show on March 1, 2010. He hosted his last episode of his second tenure on February 6, 2014. That year, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. From 2014 to 2022, he hosted Jay Leno's Garage, and from 2021 to 2023, hosted the revival of You Bet Your Life.

Steve Rider, English journalist and sportscaster

Steve Rider is a retired English sports presenter. Between 1985 and 2005, Rider presented a variety of BBC Sport programmes including Sportsnight, Rally Report and Grandstand. He was the anchorman of ITV's football coverage between 2006 and April 2010, and anchored ITV's Formula One coverage from 2006 to 2008. He was the lead presenter for ITV's coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. From 2009 to 2025, he was ITV's main presenter for the British Touring Car Championship. He announced in May 2025 that he would be retiring from presenting in June 2025.

28/04/1949

Jeremy Cooke, English lawyer and judge

Sir Jeremy Lionel Cooke, styled The Hon. Mr Justice Cooke, is a former judge in the Queen's Bench in the High Court starting from 2001 and was presiding judge for the South Eastern Circuit from 2007 to 2011, and judge in charge of the Commercial Court from 2012 to his retirement in 2016.

Paul Guilfoyle, American actor

Paul Vincent Guilfoyle is an American character actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He returned for the series finale, "Immortality", in 2015. He also returned for two episodes in the sequel CSI: Vegas.

Bruno Kirby, American actor and director (died 2006)

Bruno Kirby was an American actor. He was best known for his roles in City Slickers, When Harry Met Sally..., Good Morning, Vietnam, The Godfather Part II, The Freshman, Sleepers, Donnie Brasco, and This Is Spinal Tap. He voiced Reginald Stout in Stuart Little.

28/04/1948

Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (died 2015)

Sir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.

Marcia Strassman, American actress and singer (died 2014)

Marcia Ann Strassman was an American actress and singer. She had roles on the TV programs Welcome Back, Kotter and M*A*S*H, as well as in the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and the sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.

28/04/1947

Steve Khan, American jazz guitarist

Steve Khan is an American jazz guitarist.

28/04/1946

Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor and producer (died 2015)

Nour El-Sherif, born Mohamad Geber Mohamad Abd Allah was a prominent Egyptian actor. He has 6 films in the Top 100 Egyptian films list.

Ginette Reno, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress

Ginette Reno is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. She has received nominations for the Genie and Gemini Awards and is a multi-recipient of the Juno Award. She is a gold and platinum selling Canadian musician.

Larissa Grunig, American theorist and activist

Larissa A. Schneider Grunig is a public relations theorist and feminist, and she is known as one of the most published and influential scholars in public relations. A professor emerita at the University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Communication, Grunig taught public relations and communication research since 1979. Based on a content analysis of three academic journals from their foundation through the year 2000, Grunig was recognized as one of the five most prolific authors contributing to public relations theory development. Her research focuses on public relations, development communication, communication theory, gender issues, organizational response to activism, organization power and structure, ethics, philosophy, scientific and technical writing, and qualitative methodology.

28/04/1944

Elizabeth LeCompte, American director and producer

Elizabeth LeCompte is an American director of experimental theater, dance, and media. A founding member of The Wooster Group, she has directed that ensemble since its emergence in the late 1970s.

Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician, 10th Minister-President of Wallonia

Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, nicknamed "Van Cau", is a Belgian politician. He is member of the Parti Socialiste. He was the tenth Minister-President of Wallonia from 4 April 2000 until 30 September 2005. He resigned amid the ICDI affair and was replaced by Elio Di Rupo. He also served as mayor of Charleroi (1983–2000).

Alice Waters, American chef and author

Alice Louise Waters is an American chef, restaurateur, food writer, and author. In 1971, she opened Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California, famous for its role in creating the farm-to-table movement and for pioneering California cuisine.

28/04/1943

Aryeh Bibi, Iraqi-born Israeli politician

Aryeh Bibi is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Kadima between 2009 and 2013.

28/04/1942

Mike Brearley, English cricketer and psychoanalyst

John Michael Brearley is a retired English first-class cricketer who captained Cambridge University, Middlesex, and England to three successive Ashes series wins. He was the captain of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1979 Cricket World Cup.

28/04/1941

Ann-Margret, Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer

Ann-Margret Olsson, credited as Ann-Margret, is an American actress, dancer, and singer with a career spanning seven decades. Her many screen roles include Pocketful of Miracles (1961), State Fair (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Viva Las Vegas (1964), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Train Robbers (1973), Tommy (1975), The Return of the Soldier (1982), 52 Pick-Up (1986), Newsies (1992), Grumpy Old Men (1993), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Any Given Sunday (1999), Taxi (2004), and Going in Style (2017). Her accolades include five Golden Globe Awards, two Laurel Awards, two Photoplay Awards, an Emmy Award, a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, as well as two Academy Award nominations and two Grammy Award nominations.

Lucien Aimar, French cyclist

Lucien Aimar is a French cyclist, who won the Tour de France in 1966 and the national road championship in 1968. He is now a race organizer.

John Madejski, English businessman and academic

Sir John Robert Madejski is an English businessman, with commercial interests spanning property, broadcast media, hotels, restaurants, publishing and football.

Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Karl Barry Sharpless is an American stereochemist. He is a two-time Nobel laureate in chemistry, known for his work on stereoselective reactions and click chemistry.

Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet and author (died 2013)

Irina (Iraida) Volodymyrivna Zhylenko, a Ukrainian poet, was the a wife of Volodymyr Drozd. She was born in Kyiv and died in August 2013 at the age of 72.

28/04/1938

Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (died 1995)

Madge Dorita Sinclair CD was a Jamaican actress best known for her roles in Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975), Convoy (1978), Coming to America (1988), Trapper John, M.D. (1980–1986), and the ABC TV miniseries Roots (1977). Sinclair also voiced the character of Sarabi, Mufasa's mate and Simba's mother, in the Disney animated feature film The Lion King (1994). A five-time Emmy Award nominee, Sinclair won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as "Empress" Josephine in Gabriel's Fire in 1991.

28/04/1937

Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, 5th President of Iraq (died 2006)

Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the United States-led invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. A leading member of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, he was a proponent of Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism. The policies and ideologies he championed are collectively known as Saddamism, a right-wing variant of Ba'athism.

Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (died 2014)

Jean Redpath MBE was a Scottish folk singer.

John White, Scottish international footballer (died 1964)

John Anderson White was a Scottish international football midfielder and sometime inside right who played a significant role for Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) during their Double winning season in 1960–61. He had two brothers, Eddie and Tom, who were also professional footballers. White was killed by a lightning strike at the age of 27.

28/04/1936

Tariq Aziz, Iraqi journalist and politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2015)

Tariq Aziz was an Iraqi politician and journalist who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1983 to 1991. He was a close advisor of President Saddam Hussein. Additionally, Aziz was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council and the Regional Command of the Iraqi Branch of the Ba'ath Party. Ethnically Assyrian, he was both an Arab nationalist and a Chaldean Catholic.

28/04/1935

Pedro Ramos, Cuban baseball player

Pedro ("Pete") Ramos Guerra is a Cuban former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and the expansion Washington Senators, all of the American League (AL), and the Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cincinnati Reds, all of the National League (NL), over the course of a 15-year career. Ramos was elected to the AL All-Star team in 1959. He led the league in losses four times, in 1958 (18), 1959 (19), 1960 (18), and 1961 (20). On April 11, 1961, the first game for the newly relocated Twins, Ramos was the winning pitcher, when the team defeated the Yankees, 6–0, at Yankee Stadium.

28/04/1934

Lois Duncan, American journalist and author (died 2016)

Lois Duncan Steinmetz, known as Lois Duncan, was an American writer, novelist, poet, and journalist. She is best known for her young-adult novels, and has been credited by historians as a pioneering figure in the development of young-adult fiction, particularly in the genres of horror, thriller, and suspense.

28/04/1933

Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American neuropharmacologist and academic (died 2014)

Miodrag (Misha) Radulovacki, was a Serbian American scientist and inventor. He was professor of pharmacology in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Radulovacki's research accomplishments include: (1) the Adenosine Sleep Theory, and (2) pioneering pharmacological studies for the treatment of sleep apnea, together with research collaborator, David W. Carley,. Radulovacki and Carley invented several drug therapies for the treatment of sleep apnea which have been patented by the UIC. The UIC recognized them as the 2010 "Inventors of the Year." Radulovacki published more than 170 scientific papers. Radulovacki was also a Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

28/04/1930

James Baker, American lawyer and politician, 61st United States Secretary of State

James Addison Baker III is an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, and former Marine Corps officer. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House chief of staff and 67th United States secretary of the treasury under President Ronald Reagan, and the 61st U.S. secretary of state, before returning as the 16th White House chief of staff under President George H. W. Bush.

Carolyn Jones, American actress (died 1983)

Carolyn Sue Jones was an American actress of television and film. She began her film career in the early 1950s and by the end of the decade, in 1958, had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party (1957) and, that same year, won a Laurel Award for Top Supporting Female Performance, as well as a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year–Actress for her turn in Marjorie Morningstar. Her film career continued for another 20 years. In 1964, Jones began playing the role of Morticia Addams in the black-and-white television sitcom The Addams Family.

28/04/1928

Yves Klein, French painter (died 1962)

Yves Klein was a French artist and an important figure in postwar European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme, founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein was a pioneer in the development of performance art, and is seen as an inspiration to and as a forerunner of minimal art, as well as pop art. He developed and used International Klein Blue.

Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American geologist and astronomer (died 1997)

Eugene Merle Shoemaker was an American geologist. He co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with his wife Carolyn S. Shoemaker and David H. Levy. This comet hit Jupiter in July 1994: the impact was televised around the world. Shoemaker also studied terrestrial craters, such as Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona, and along with Edward Chao provided the first conclusive evidence of its origin as an impact crater. He was also the first director of the United States Geological Survey's Astrogeology Research Program.

28/04/1926

James Bama, American artist and illustrator (died 2022)

James Elliott Bama was an American artist known for his realistic paintings and etchings of Western subjects. Life in Wyoming led to his comment, "Here an artist can trace the beginnings of Western history, see the first buildings, the oldest wagons, saddles and guns, and be up close to the remnants of Indian culture ... And you can stand surrounded by nature's wonders."

Bill Blackbeard, American historian and author (died 2011)

William Elsworth Blackbeard, better known as Bill Blackbeard, was a writer-editor and the founder-director of the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, a comprehensive collection of comic strips and cartoon art from American newspapers. This major collection, consisting of 2.5 million clippings, tearsheets and comic sections, spanning the years 1894 to 1996, has provided source material for numerous books and articles by Blackbeard and other researchers.

Harper Lee, American novelist (died 2016)

Nelle Harper Lee was an American novelist whose 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. She assisted her close friend Truman Capote in his research for the book In Cold Blood (1966). An earlier draft of Mockingbird, set at a later date, Go Set a Watchman, was published in July 2015 as a sequel. A collection of her short stories and essays, The Land of Sweet Forever, was published on October 21, 2025.

Hulusi Sayın, Turkish general (died 1991)

Hulusi Sayın was a general in the Turkish Gendarmerie, and may have been involved with the Gendarmerie's JITEM intelligence unit. He retired in 1989 and become an adviser to the Prime Minister's office. He was assassinated outside his home in January 1991; the assassination was claimed by Dev Sol, a leftist organization. At the time of his death Sayın was known to be advocating a peaceful solution to the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.

28/04/1925

T. John Lesinski, American judge and politician, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (died 1996)

Thaddeus John "T. John" Lesinski,, was an American politician and judge from the U.S. state of Michigan.

John Leonard Thorn, English lieutenant, author, and academic (died 2023)

John Leonard Thorn was an English schoolmaster, writer and educational consultant. He was headmaster of Repton School from 1961 to 1968 and then of Winchester College until 1985. He was chairman of the Headmasters' Conference for 1981.

28/04/1924

Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (died 2014)

Richard Bache Ayers was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four. He is the signature penciler of Marvel's World War II comic Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, drawing it for a 10-year run, and he co-created Magazine Enterprises' 1950s Western-horror character the Ghost Rider, a version of which he would draw for Marvel in the 1960s.

Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist (died 2009)

Margrethe Blossom Dearie was an American jazz singer and pianist. She had a distinctive light and girlish voice. Dearie performed regular engagements in London and New York City over many years and collaborated with many musicians, including Johnny Mercer, Miles Davis, Jack Segal, Johnny Mandel, Duncan Lamont, Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg, and Jay Berliner.

Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian educator and politician, first president of Zambia (died 2021)

Kenneth Kaunda, also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the campaign for independence from the British Empire, though he would subsequently establish himself as a dictator and oversee Zambia's economic collapse once this was achieved. Dissatisfied with Harry Nkumbula's leadership of the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress, he broke away and founded the Zambian African National Congress, later becoming the head of the socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP).

28/04/1923

Carolyn Cassady, American author (died 2013)

Carolyn Elizabeth Robinson Cassady was an American writer who was associated with the Beat Generation through her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other prominent Beat figures. She became a frequent character in the works of Jack Kerouac.

William Guarnere, American sergeant (died 2014)

William J. Guarnere Sr. was a United States Army paratrooper who fought in World War II as a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division.

28/04/1922

Barbara Lüdemann, German politician (died 1992)

Barbara Lüdemann was a German teacher and politician who served in the Bundestag from 1973 until 1976. A member of the Free Democratic Party from Hesse, she became a prominent figure in German family policy, especially with regards to foster care.

28/04/1921

Rowland Evans, American soldier, journalist, and author (died 2001)

Rowland Evans Jr. was an American journalist. He was known best for his decades-long syndicated column and television partnership with Robert Novak, a partnership that endured, if only by way of a joint subscription newsletter, until Evans's death.

Simin Daneshvar, Iranian author and academic (died 2012)

Simin Dāneshvar was an Iranian academic, novelist, fiction writer, and translator.

28/04/1917

Robert Cornthwaite, American actor (died 2006)

Robert Rae Cornthwaite was an American film and television character actor.

28/04/1916

Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, created Lamborghini (died 1993)

Ferruccio Lamborghini was an Italian automobile designer and industrialist who created Lamborghini Trattori in 1948 and Automobili Lamborghini in 1963, a maker of high-end sports cars in Sant'Agata Bolognese.

28/04/1914

Michel Mohrt, French author, historian (died 2011)

Michel Mohrt was an editor, essayist, novelist and historian of French literature.

28/04/1913

Rose Murphy, American singer (died 1989)

Rose Murphy was an American jazz pianist and singer, famous for the song "Busy Line" and her unique vocal style.

28/04/1912

Odette Hallowes, French soldier and spy (died 1995)

Odette Marie Léonie Céline Hallowes,, also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Sansom, code named Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during the Second World War. She was the first woman to be awarded the George Cross by the United Kingdom and was awarded the Légion d'honneur by France. The following information relating to her war service uses 'Sansom' as this was her surname during this period.

Kaneto Shindō, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012)

Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include Children of Hiroshima, The Naked Island, Onibaba, Kuroneko and A Last Note. His screenplays were filmed by directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kōzaburō Yoshimura, Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Seijun Suzuki, and Tadashi Imai.

28/04/1911

Lee Falk, American director, producer, and playwright (died 1999)

Lee Falk, born Leon Harrison Gross, was an American writer, playwright, theater director, and producer, best known as the creator of the comic strips Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom. At the height of their popularity, these strips attracted over 100 million readers every day. Falk also wrote short stories, and he contributed to a series of paperback novels about The Phantom.

28/04/1910

Sam Merwin, Jr., American author (died 1996)

Samuel Kimball Merwin Jr. was an American mystery fiction writer, editor and science fiction author. His pseudonyms included Elizabeth Deare Bennett, Matt Lee, Jacques Jean Ferrat and Carter Sprague.

28/04/1909

Arthur Võõbus, Estonian-American theologist and orientalist (died 1988)

Arthur Võõbus was an Estonian theologian, orientalist, scholar, author, professor, and church historian.

28/04/1908

Ethel Catherwood, American-Canadian high jumper and javelin thrower (died 1987)

Ethel Hannah Catherwood was a Canadian track and field athlete who won a gold medal in the high jump at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. She competed as a member of Canada's first Olympic women's track and field team, later known as the "Matchless Six", which took part in the first Olympic Games to include women's athletics in 1928. Catherwood won the event with a jump of 1.59 metres, becoming the first woman in Olympic history to win a gold medal in the high jump.

Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster (died 1981)

John Henry Webb Fingleton, OBE was an Australian Test cricketer, journalist and commentator. He was the son of Australian politician James Fingleton, and he was known for his dour defensive approach as a batsman, scoring five Test match centuries, representing Australia in 18 Tests between 1932 and 1938.

Oskar Schindler, Czech-German businessman (died 1974)

Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and humanitarian who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories in German-occupied Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. He is the subject of the 1982 novel Schindler's Ark and its 1993 film adaptation, Schindler's List.

28/04/1906

Kurt Gödel, Czech-American mathematician, philosopher, and academic (died 1978)

Kurt Friedrich Gödel was a logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered along with Aristotle and Gottlob Frege to be one of the most significant logicians in history, Gödel profoundly influenced scientific and philosophical thinking in the 20th century, building on earlier work by Frege, Richard Dedekind, and Georg Cantor.

Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (died 1999)

Paul Sacher was a Swiss conductor, patron and billionaire businessman. At the time of his death, Sacher was the majority shareholder of the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical company and was considered the third richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$13 billion.

28/04/1902

Johan Borgen, Norwegian author and critic (died 1979)

Johan Collett Müller Borgen was a Norwegian writer, journalist and critic. His best-known work is the novel Lillelord for which he was awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1955. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966.

28/04/1901

H. B. Stallard, English runner and surgeon (died 1973)

Hyla Bristow Stallard, published as H. B. Stallard and familiarly known as Henry Stallard, was an English middle-distance runner and ophthalmologist.

28/04/1900

Alice Berry, Australian activist (died 1978)

Dame Alice Miriam Berry was an Australian activist dedicated to finding ways to improve the lives of women and children in rural areas.

Heinrich Müller, German SS officer, Gestapo chief, and key individual in the Holocaust (died 1945)

Heinrich Müller was a high-ranking German Schutzstaffel (SS) and police official during the Nazi era. For most of World War II in Europe, he was the chief of the Gestapo, the secret state police of Nazi Germany. Müller was central in the planning and execution of the Holocaust and attended the January 1942 Wannsee Conference, which formalised plans for the deportation and genocide of all Jews in German-occupied Europe—otherwise known as the "Final Solution to the Jewish question". He was referenced as "Gestapo Müller" to distinguish him from another SS general named Heinrich Müller.

Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer and academic (died 1992)

Jan Hendrik Oort was a Dutch astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and who was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy. The New York Times called him "one of the century's foremost explorers of the universe"; the European Space Agency website describes him as "one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century" and states that he "revolutionised astronomy through his ground-breaking discoveries." In 1955, Oort's name appeared in Life magazine's list of the 100 most famous living people. He has been described as "putting the Netherlands in the forefront of postwar astronomy".

28/04/1897

Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician, Head of State of the People's Republic of China (died 1986)

Ye Jianying was a Chinese Communist revolutionary leader and politician, one of the Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China. He was the top military leader in the 1976 coup that overthrew the Gang of Four and ended the Cultural Revolution, and was the key supporter of Deng Xiaoping in his power struggle with Hua Guofeng between 1978 and 1981, which ended in Hua fading into political obscurity. In his capacity as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Ye served as China's head of state from 1978 until 1983, being succeeded in that capacity by Li Xiannian with the restoration of the post of Chairman of the People's Republic of China by a new constitution.

28/04/1896

Na Hye-sok, South Korean journalist, poet, and painter (died 1948)

Na Hye-sŏk (Korean: 나혜석, April 28, 1896 – December 10, 1948) was a Korean feminist, poet, writer, painter, educator, and journalist. Her art name was Jeongwol. She was a pioneering Korean feminist writer and painter. She was the first female professional painter and the first feminist writer in Korea. She created some of the earliest Western-style paintings in Korea, and published feminist novels and short stories. She became well known as a feminist because of her criticism of the marital institution in the early 20th century.

Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet and critic (died 1963)

Tristan Tzara was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, composer and film director, he was known best for being one of the founders and central figures of the anti-establishment Dada movement. Under the influence of Adrian Maniu, the adolescent Tzara became interested in Symbolism and co-founded the magazine Simbolul with Ion Vinea and painter Marcel Janco.

28/04/1889

António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese economist and politician, 100th Prime Minister of Portugal (died 1970)

António de Oliveira Salazar was a Portuguese dictator, academic, and economist who served as President of the Council of Ministers of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the Ditadura Nacional, he reframed the regime as the corporatist Estado Novo, with himself as dictator. The regime he created lasted until 1974, making it one of the longest-lived authoritarian dictatorships in modern Europe.

28/04/1888

Walter Tull, English footballer and soldier (died 1918)

Walter Daniel John Tull was an English professional footballer and British Army officer of Afro-Caribbean descent. He played as an inside forward and half back for Clapton, Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town and was the third person of mixed heritage to play in the top division of the Football League after Arthur Wharton and Willie Clarke. He was also the first player of African descent to sign for Rangers in 1917, while stationed in Scotland.

28/04/1886

Erich Salomon, German-born news photographer (died 1944)

Erich Salomon was a German news photographer known for his pictures in the diplomatic and legal professions and the innovative methods he used to acquire them.

Art Shaw, American hurdler (died 1955)

Arthur Briggs Shaw was an American athlete and member of the Irish American Athletic Club. He won the bronze medal in the men's 110 metres hurdles race at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College.

28/04/1878

Lionel Barrymore, American actor and director (died 1954)

Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931) and is known to modern audiences for the role of villainous Mr. Potter in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.

28/04/1876

Nicola Romeo, Italian engineer and businessman (died 1938)

Nicola Romeo was an Italian engineer and entrepreneur mostly known for founding the car manufacturer Alfa Romeo. He served as a senator in the 18th Legislature of the Kingdom of Italy.

28/04/1874

Karl Kraus, Austrian journalist and author (died 1936)

Karl Kraus was an Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet. He directed his satire at the press, German culture, and German and Austrian politics. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.

Sidney Toler, American actor and director (died 1947)

Sidney Toler was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second non-Asian actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the Chinese-American detective in 22 films made between 1938 and 1946. Before becoming Chan, Toler played supporting roles in 50 motion pictures, and was a highly regarded comic actor on the Broadway stage.

28/04/1868

Lucy Booth, English composer (died 1953)

Commissioner Lucy Milward Booth-Hellberg was the eighth and youngest child of Catherine and William Booth, the Founder of The Salvation Army.

Georgy Voronoy, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and academic (died 1908)

Georgy Feodosevich Voronoy was an Imperial Russian mathematician of Ukrainian descent noted for defining the Voronoi diagram.

28/04/1865

Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist and academic (died 1940)

Charles William Woodworth was an American entomologist. He published extensively in entomology and founded the Entomology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first person to breed the model organism Drosophila melanogaster in captivity and to suggest to early genetic researchers at Harvard its use for scientific research. He spent four years at the University of Nanking, China, where he effected the practical control of the city's mosquitoes. He drafted and lobbied for California's first insecticide law and administered the law for 12 years. The Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America named its annual career achievement award the C. W. Woodworth Award.

28/04/1863

Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician, 7th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (died 1933)

Josiah Thomas was an Australian politician. He was elected to the House of Representatives at the inaugural 1901 federal election, representing the Labor Party. Thomas served as a minister in Andrew Fisher's first two governments, as Postmaster-General and Minister for External Affairs (1911–1913). He joined the Nationalist Party after the 1916 Labor split and transferred to the Senate at the 1917 election, serving as a Senator for New South Wales from 1917 to 1923 and from 1925 to 1929.

Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (died 1929)

Nikolai Karlovich von Meck was a Russian engineer and entrepreneur involved in the development of Russia during the first part of the twentieth century. He was put on trial as part of the Shakhty Trial and executed in 1929.

28/04/1855

José Malhoa, Portuguese painter (died 1933)

José Vital Branco Malhoa, known simply as José Malhoa was a Portuguese painter.

28/04/1854

Hertha Marks Ayrton, Polish-British engineer, mathematician, and physicist. (died 1923)

Phoebe Sarah Hertha Ayrton, known in her adult life as Hertha Ayrton, was an English electrical engineer, mathematician, physicist and inventor, and suffragette. She was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society for her work on electric arcs and ripple marks in sand and water.

28/04/1848

Ludvig Schytte, Danish pianist, composer, and educator (died 1909)

Ludvig Schytte was a Danish composer, pianist, and teacher.

28/04/1838

Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and scholar, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1913)

Tobias Michael Carel Asser was a Dutch lawyer and legal scholar. In 1911, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the First Hague Peace Conference in 1899 and for his achievements in establishing the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH).

28/04/1827

William Hall, Canadian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1904)

William Nelson Edward Hall was the first Black person, first Nova Scotian, and the third Canadian to receive the Victoria Cross due to his actions in the 1857 Siege of Lucknow, amid the Indian Rebellion. In the face of heavy enemy fire, Hall and an officer from his ship continued to load and fire a 24-pounder gun at the walls of the Shah Nujeef mosque, a prominent stronghold of the Sepoy defence. Hall's actions were integral to the breaking of the siege and subsequent British evacuation.

28/04/1819

Ezra Abbot, American scholar and academic (died 1884)

Ezra Abbot was an American biblical scholar.

28/04/1765

Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (died 1834)

Sylvestre François Lacroix was a French mathematician.

28/04/1761

Marie Harel, French cheesemaker (died 1844)

Marie Harel was a French cheesemaker, who, along with Abbot Charles-Jean Bonvoust, invented Camembert cheese, according to local legend.

28/04/1758

James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (died 1831)

James Monroe was an American Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as president as well as the last president of the Virginia dynasty. Monroe was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and his presidency coincided with the Era of Good Feelings, concluding the First Party System era of American politics. He issued the Monroe Doctrine, a policy of limiting European colonialism in the Americas. Monroe had previously served as Governor of Virginia, a member of the United States Senate, U.S. ambassador to France and Britain, the seventh secretary of state, and the eighth secretary of war.

28/04/1715

Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and educator (died 1767)

Franz Sparry was a composer of the Baroque period.

28/04/1676

Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (died 1751)

Frederick I was King of Sweden from 1720 until his death, having been prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and was also Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730. He ascended the throne following the death of his brother-in-law absolutist Charles XII in the Great Northern War, and the abdication of his wife, Charles's sister and successor Ulrika Eleonora, after she had to relinquish most powers to the Riksdag of the Estates and thus chose to abdicate. His powerless reign and lack of legitimate heirs of his own saw his family's elimination from the line of succession after the parliamentary government dominated by pro-revanchist Hat Party politicians ventured into a war with Russia, which ended in defeat and the Russian tsarina Elizabeth getting Adolf Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp instated following the death of the king. Whilst being the only Swedish monarch called Frederick, he was Frederick I of Hesse-Kassel and thus Frederick I also of Sweden, though other Swedish monarchs with non-repeating names had not been enumerated.

28/04/1630

Charles Cotton, English poet and author (died 1687)

Charles Cotton was an English poet and writer, best known for translating the work of Michel de Montaigne from French, for his contributions to The Compleat Angler, and for the influential The Compleat Gamester attributed to him.

28/04/1623

Wilhelmus Beekman, Dutch politician (died 1707)

Wilhelmus Hendricksen Beekman – also known as William Beekman and Willem Beekman – was a Dutch emigrant who came to New Amsterdam from the Netherlands on May 27, 1647 in the same vessel, Princess, with Director-General and later Governor Peter Stuyvesant.

28/04/1604

Joris Jansen Rapelje, Dutch settler in colonial North America (died 1662)

Joris Jansen Rapelje was a member of the Council of Twelve Men in the Dutch West India Company colony of New Netherland. He and his wife Catalina (Catalyntje) Trico (1605–1689) were among the earliest settlers in New Netherland.

28/04/1573

Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême, son of Charles IX (died 1650)

Charles de Valois was an illegitimate son of Charles IX of France and Marie Touchet. He was count of Auvergne, duke of Angoulême, and a memoirist.

28/04/1545

Yi Sun-sin, Korean commander (died 1598)

Yi Sun-sin was a Korean admiral and military general known for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Imjin War in the Joseon period. Yi's courtesy name was Yŏhae (여해), and he was posthumously honored with the title Lord of Loyal Valor.

28/04/1442

Edward IV, king of England (died 1483)

Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until he died in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England fought between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions between 1455 and 1487.

28/04/1402

Nezahualcoyotl, Acolhuan philosopher, warrior, poet and ruler (died 1472)

Nezahualcoyotl Acolmiztli, "Fasting Coyote" was tlatoani (king) of the Acolhua altepetl (city-state) of Texcoco from 1431 to his death in 1472, in pre-Columbian Mexico. He is noted for his achievements as a philosopher (tlamatini), warrior, architect, legislator and poet, earning him the nickname of "the Poet-King". In his lifetime, he was also known by his poetic nickname Yoyontzin. His difficult younger years following his father's assassination, and his efforts to reconquer his realm after being taken over by the powerful Tepanec Empire turned him into a hero in pre-Columbian society. In order to defeat the Tepanec Empire, and its ruler Maxtla, he formed an alliance with the tlatoque (kings) of Mexico-Tenochtitlan and Tlacopan, becoming one of the founders of the Aztec Triple Alliance, commonly known as the Aztec Empire. His odyssey has captured the public imagination, which has been compared to the Shakespearean story of Prince Hamlet, albeit he remains an enigmatic figure, due to the lack of sources from his own lifetime or from his contemporaries.

28/04/0032

Otho, Roman emperor (died 69 AD)

AD 32 (XXXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ahenobarbus and Camillus. The denomination AD 32 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Lives Remembered on 28th April

On 28th April, 116 remarkable people passed away — from 224 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

28/04/2024

Brian McCardie, Scottish actor and writer (born 1965)

Brian McCardie was a Scottish actor and writer, known for his role as John Thomas "Tommy" Hunter in the BBC police procedural series Line of Duty.

28/04/2021

Michael Collins, American astronaut (born 1930)

Michael Collins was an American astronaut who flew the Apollo 11 command module Columbia around the Moon in 1969 while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, made the first crewed landing on the surface. He was also a test pilot and major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

El Risitas, Spanish comedian (born 1956)

Juan Joya Borja, was a Spanish comedian and actor, better known by his stage name, El Risitas. He gained widespread popularity in 2015 thanks to a series of memes based on a television interview recorded in 2007 on Jesús Quintero's TV show Ratones Coloraos.

28/04/2019

Richard Lugar, American politician (born 1932)

Richard Green Lugar was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party.

John Singleton, American film director (born 1968)

John Daniel Singleton was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing Boyz n the Hood (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming, at age 24, the first African American and youngest nominee in the category.

28/04/2018

James Hylton, American race car driver (born 1934)

James Harvey Hylton was an American stock car racing driver. He was a two-time winner in NASCAR Winston Cup Series competition and was a long-time competitor in the ARCA Racing Series. Hylton finished second in points in NASCAR's top series three times. He holds the record for highest points finish by a rookie.

28/04/2017

Mariano Gagnon, American Catholic priest and author (born 1929)

Mariano Gagnon was an American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest, who served as a missionary in Peru. Gagnon founded the Cutivereni mission in Peru's Ene River valley to assist the indigenous Asháninka people who were being forced out of their homes in the jungle by settlers. He would later become known for his work helping arm the Asháninka and eventually helping some Asháninka flee Cutivereni when it was facing attack from Shining Path guerrillas during the internal conflict in Peru. He later wrote about his experiences during the conflict in the book Warriors in Eden.

28/04/2016

Jenny Diski, English author and screenwriter (born 1947)

Jenny Diski FRSL was an English novelist, non-fiction writer and memoirist. She was a regular contributor to the London Review of Books; articles and essays she wrote for the publication are in the collections Don't and Why Didn't You Do What You Were Told? Her memoirs include In Gratitude, The Sixties, Skating to Antarctica, and Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking around America With Interruptions, for which she won the 2003 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.

28/04/2015

Antônio Abujamra, Brazilian actor and director (born 1932)

Antônio Abujamra was a Brazilian theatre and television director and actor. Having majored in journalism and philosophy at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul in 1957, he started a career as a theatre critic while he directed and acted in his own plays at the university theatre. Professionally, he made his debut as a theatre director in 1961, and as an actor in 1987, acting in both theatre and television. In 1989, he gained national fame for his role as Ravengar in Rede Globo's telenovela Que Rei Sou Eu?, which became his best known role. In that same year, Abujamra won the Best Actor award at the Gramado Film Festival for his role in the film Festa. From 2000 onward, he was the presenter on TV Cultura's interview program Provocações. His son André Abujamra is a score composer, while his niece Clarisse Abujamra, is also an actress.

Marcia Brown, American author and illustrator (born 1918)

Marcia Joan Brown was an American writer and illustrator of more than 30 children's books. She won three annual Caldecott Medals from the American Library Association, six Caldecott Medal honors as an illustrator, recognizing the year's best U.S. picture book illustration, and the ALA's Children's Literature Legacy Award in 1992 for her career contribution to children's literature. This total of nine books with awards and honors is more than any other Caldecott-nominated illustrator. Many of her titles have been published in translation, including Afrikaans, German, Japanese, Spanish, and Xhosa-Bantu editions. Brown is known as one of the most honored illustrators in children's literature.

Michael J. Ingelido, American general (born 1916)

Michael Joseph Ingelido was an American Air Force major general who was commander of the Fourteenth Aerospace Force,, Ent Air Force Base, Colorado.

28/04/2014

Barbara Fiske Calhoun, American cartoonist and painter (born 1919)

Barbara Fiske Calhoun was an American cartoonist and painter, one of the few female creators from the Golden Age of Comic Books. She co-founded Quarry Hill Creative Center, one of Vermont's oldest alternative communities, on the Fiske family property, in Rochester, Vermont.

William Honan, American journalist and author (born 1930)

William Holmes Honan was an American journalist and author who directed coverage of the arts at The New York Times as its culture editor in the 1980s. Honan held senior editorial positions at the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Saturday Review and The Villager, a weekly newspaper serving downtown Manhattan.

Dennis Kamakahi, American guitarist and composer (born 1953)

Dennis David Kahekilimamaoikalanikeha Kamakahi was a Hawaiian slack key guitarist, recording artist, music composer, and Christian minister. He was a three-time Grammy Award winner, and in 2009 he was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.

Edgar Laprade, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1919)

Edgar Louis "Beaver" Laprade was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played for the New York Rangers in the National Hockey League. The son of Thomas and Edith Laprade, he was born in the New Ontario community of Mine Centre. By age 4, he and his family moved to Port Arthur, Ontario. He also spent time with the Port Arthur Bearcats of the Thunder Bay Senior Hockey League.

Jack Ramsay, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (born 1925)

John Travilla Ramsay was an American basketball coach, commonly known as "Dr. Jack". He was best known for leading the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA championship, and for his broadcasting work with the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat, and for ESPN TV and ESPN Radio. Ramsay was among the most respected coaches in NBA history and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the winner of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award for the 2009–10 NBA season.

Idris Sardi, Indonesian violinist and composer (born 1938)

Muhammad Idris Sardi was an Indonesian violinist and composer.

Frederic Schwartz, American architect, co-designed Empty Sky (born 1951)

Frederic David Schwartz was an American architect, author, and city planner whose work includes Empty Sky, the New Jersey 9-11 Memorial, which was dedicated in Liberty State Park on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Ryan Tandy, Australian rugby player (born 1981)

Ryan Tandy was an international rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played as a prop in the National Rugby League (NRL) for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wests Tigers, Melbourne Storm, and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, and in the Super League for Hull Kingston Rovers. He was banned from playing professional rugby league in Australia after being found guilty of spot-fixing during a match in 2010, and in 2014 died of a suspected drug overdose.

28/04/2013

Brad Lesley, American baseball player (born 1958)

Bradley Jay Lesley was an American actor, media personality and former professional baseball pitcher. Lesley was an especially imposing physical figure, standing 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) and weighing 230 lb (104 kg). Nicknamed "The Animal", he was known for his aggressive style of self-motivation.

Fredrick McKissack, American author (born 1939)

Fredrick Lemuel "Fred" McKissack, Sr. was an American writer, best known for collaborating with his wife, Patricia C. McKissack, on more than 100 children's books about the history of African-Americans.

John C. Reynolds, American computer scientist and academic (born 1935)

John Charles Reynolds was an American computer scientist.

Jack Shea, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1928)

Jack Shea was an American television and film director. He was the president of the Directors Guild of America from 1997 to 2002.

János Starker, Hungarian-American cellist and educator (born 1924)

János Starker was a Hungarian-American cellist. From 1958 until his death, he taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he held the title of Distinguished Professor. Starker is considered one of the greatest cellists of all time.

Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (born 1924)

Paulo Emilio Vanzolini was a Brazilian scientist and music composer. He was best known for his samba compositions, including the famous "Ronda", "Volta por Cima", and "Boca da Noite", and for his scientific works in herpetology. He is considered one of the greatest samba composers from São Paulo. Until his death, he still conducted research at the University of São Paulo (USP).

Bernie Wood, New Zealand journalist and author (born 1939)

Bernard Joseph Wood was a New Zealand rugby league administrator and sports historian.

28/04/2012

Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby player and coach (born 1920)

Sir Frederick Richard Allen was a captain and coach of the All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby union team. The All Blacks won all 14 of the test matches they played under his coaching.

Matilde Camus, Spanish poet and author (born 1919)

Aurora Matilde Gómez Camus was a Spanish poet from Cantabria who also wrote non-fiction.

Al Ecuyer, American football player (born 1937)

Allen Joseph Ecuyer was an American football player.

Patricia Medina, English actress (born 1919)

Patricia Paz Maria Medina was a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the films Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) and Mr. Arkadin (1955).

Milan N. Popović, Serbian psychiatrist and author (born 1924)

Milan Popović (1924–2012) was a renowned Serbian psychiatrist-psychoanalyst, a full professor of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy.

Aberdeen Shikoyi, Kenyan rugby player (born 1985)

Aberdeen Shikoyi was a Kenyan rugby union player. She was the captain of the women's rugby union team.

28/04/2011

Erhard Loretan, Swiss mountaineer (born 1959)

Erhard Loretan was a Swiss mountain climber. He was the third man to climb all fourteen peaks over 8,000 meters, and the second to do so without supplementary oxygen.

28/04/2009

Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina and actress (born 1939)

Ekaterina Sergeyevna Maximova was a Soviet and Russian ballerina of the second part of the 20th century who was internationally recognised. She was a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre for 30 years, a ballet pedagogue, winner of international ballet competitions, Laureate of many prestigious International and Russian awards, a professor in GITIS, Honorary professor at the Moscow State University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, and an Executive Committee member of the Russian Center of Counseil International De La Danse, UNESCO.

Richard Pratt, Polish-Australian businessman (born 1934)

Richard J. Pratt was an Australian businessman, chairman of the privately owned company Visy Industries, and a leading figure of Melbourne society. In the year before his death, Pratt was Australia's fourth-richest person, with a personal fortune valued at A$5.48 billion.

28/04/2007

Dabbs Greer, American actor (born 1917)

Robert William "Dabbs" Greer was an American character actor in film and television for over 60 years. Greer appeared in nearly 100 film roles and in nearly 600 television episodes of various series. He played Mr. Jonas in Gunsmoke, Coach Ossie Weiss in the sitcom Hank, and Reverend Robert Alden in Little House on the Prairie. Greer's final film role was as the 108-year-old Paul Edgecomb, the character played by Tom Hanks in 1999's The Green Mile.

René Mailhot, Canadian journalist (born 1942)

René Mailhot was a Canadian journalist from the province of Quebec. He began his career at the age of twenty with the French-language newspaper Le Droit, published in Ottawa. Afterwards, Mailhot went into public television in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Tommy Newsom, American saxophonist and bandleader (born 1929)

Thomas Penn Newsom was a saxophone player in the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, for which he later became assistant director. Newsom was frequently the band's substitute director, whenever music director Doc Severinsen was away from the show or filling in for announcer Ed McMahon. Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement" by Johnny Carson as an ironic take on his low-keyed, reserved persona, he was often a foil for Carson's humor. His conservative brown or blue suits were a marked contrast to Severinsen's flashy stage clothing.

Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher (born 1912)

Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German physicist and philosopher. He was the longest-living member of the team which performed nuclear research in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, under Werner Heisenberg's leadership. There is ongoing debate as to whether or not he and the other members of the team actively and willingly pursued the development of a nuclear bomb for Germany during this time.

Bertha Wilson, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and jurist (born 1923)

Bertha Wernham Wilson was a Canadian jurist and the first female puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Before her ascension to Canada's highest court, she was the first female associate and partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt and the first woman appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. During her time at Osler, she created the first in-firm research department in the Canadian legal industry.

28/04/2006

Steve Howe, American baseball player (born 1958)

Steven Roy Howe was an American professional baseball relief pitcher. He played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, spanning 1980 to 1996. His baseball career ended in 1997 after a stint with the Sioux Falls Canaries of the independent Northern League.

28/04/2005

Percy Heath, American bassist (born 1923)

Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz.

Chris Candido, American wrestler (born 1971)

Christopher Barrett Candito was an American professional wrestler. Candito is best remembered for his tenures with promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where he performed under the ring name Chris Candido, as well as for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Skip, one-half of the tag team The Bodydonnas. For much of his career, he performed alongside his real-life partner, Tammy "Sunny" Sytch, who acted as his valet.

Taraki Sivaram, Sri Lankan journalist and author (born 1959)

Taraki Sivaram or Dharmeratnam Sivaram was a popular Tamil journalist of Sri Lanka. He was kidnapped by four men in a white van on 28 April 2005, in front of the Bambalapitya police station. His body was found the next day in the district of Himbulala, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He had been beaten and shot in the head.

28/04/2002

Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (born 1950)

Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Airborne Forces before running for president in the 1996 Russian presidential election. He did not win, but placed third behind incumbent Boris Yeltsin and the Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, with roughly 14% of the vote nation-wide. Lebed later served as the Secretary of the Security Council in the Yeltsin administration, and eventually became the governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, the second largest Russian region. He served four years in the latter position, until his death following an Mi-8 helicopter crash.

Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer (born 1916)

Aloysius Martin Thesz, known by the ring name Lou Thesz, was an American professional wrestler and wrestling coach. Considered to be one of the last true shooters in professional wrestling and described as the "quintessential athlete" and a "polished warrior who could break a man in two if pushed the wrong way", Thesz is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers and wrestling world champions in history, and possibly the last globally accepted world champion.

28/04/2000

Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-Swedish physician and politician (born 1925)

Jerzy Einhorn was a Polish-born Swedish medical doctor, researcher and politician (Kristdemokrat). His Hebrew name was Chil Josef, after his paternal grandfather.

Penelope Fitzgerald, English author and poet (born 1916)

Penelope Mary Fitzgerald was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 The Times listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". The Observer in 2012 placed her final novel, The Blue Flower, among "the ten best historical novels". A.S. Byatt called her, "Jane Austen’s nearest heir for precision and invention."

28/04/1999

Rory Calhoun, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)

Rory Calhoun was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s and appeared in supporting roles in films such as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and Motel Hell (1980).

Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and engineer (born 1927)

Rolf William Landauer was a German-American physicist who made important contributions in diverse areas of the thermodynamics of information processing, condensed matter physics, and the conductivity of disordered media. Born in Germany, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1938, obtained a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard in 1950, and then spent most of his career at IBM.

Alf Ramsey, English footballer and manager (born 1920)

Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey was an English football player and manager. As a player, he represented the England national team and captained the side, but he is best known for his time as England manager from 1963 to 1974, which included guiding them to victory in the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Knighted in 1967 in recognition of the World Cup win, Ramsey also managed his country to third place in the 1968 European Championship and the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup and the 1972 European Championship. As a player, Ramsey was a defender and a member of England's 1950 World Cup squad.

Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1921)

Arthur Leonard Schawlow was an American physicist who, along with Charles Townes, developed the theoretical basis for laser science. His central insight was the use of two mirrors as the resonant cavity to take maser action from microwaves to visible wavelengths. He shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nicolaas Bloembergen and Kai Siegbahn for his work using lasers to determine atomic energy levels with great precision.

28/04/1998

Jerome Bixby, American author and screenwriter (born 1923)

Drexel Jerome Lewis Bixby was an American short story writer and scriptwriter. He wrote the 1953 story "It's a Good Life", which was included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

28/04/1997

Ann Petry, American novelist (born 1908)

Ann Petry was an American writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism. Her 1946 debut novel The Street became the first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a million copies.

28/04/1996

Lester Sumrall, American minister, founded LeSEA (born 1913)

Lester Frank Sumrall was an American Pentecostal pastor, evangelist, teacher, and missionary. He founded the Lester Sumrall Evangelistic Association (LeSEA) and its humanitarian arm LeSEA Global Feed the Hungry, World Harvest Radio International, and World Harvest Bible College.

28/04/1994

Berton Roueché, American journalist and author (born 1910)

Clarence Berton Roueché Jr. was an American medical writer who wrote for The New Yorker magazine for almost fifty years. He wrote twenty books, including Eleven Blue Men (1954), The Incurable Wound (1958), Feral (1974), and The Medical Detectives (1980). An article he wrote for The New Yorker was made into the 1956 film Bigger Than Life, and many of the medical mysteries on the television show House were inspired by Roueché's writings.

28/04/1993

Diva Diniz Corrêa, Brazilian zoologist (born 1918)

Diva Diniz Corrêa was a Brazilian marine zoologist.

Jim Valvano, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (born 1946)

James Thomas Anthony Valvano, nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, culminating at NC State. While the head coach at NC State, his team won the 1983 NCAA Division I men's basketball title against improbable odds. Valvano is remembered for his ecstatic celebration after winning the national championship game against the heavily favored Houston Cougars.

28/04/1992

Francis Bacon, Irish painter (born 1909)

Francis Bacon was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his raw, unsettling imagery. Focusing on the human form, his subjects included crucifixions, portraits of popes, self-portraits, and portraits of close friends, with abstracted figures sometimes isolated in geometrical structures.

28/04/1991

Steve Broidy, American film producer (born 1905)

Samuel “Steve” Broidy was an American executive in the U.S. motion picture industry.

28/04/1989

Esa Pakarinen, Finnish actor and musician (born 1911)

Feeliks Esaias "Esa" Pakarinen was a Finnish actor, singer, accordionist and comedian, best known for the role of Pekka Puupää in the Pekka and Pätkä films from 1953–1960. He was also a skilled, self-taught accordion player.

28/04/1987

Ben Linder, American engineer and activist (born 1959)

Benjamin Ernest Linder, was an American engineer. While working on a small hydroelectric dam in rural northern Nicaragua, Linder and two of his colleagues, Pablo Rosales and Sergio Hernández, were ambushed and killed by the Contras, a loose confederation of rebel groups funded by the U.S. government.

28/04/1980

Tommy Caldwell, American bass player (born 1949)

Thomas Michael Caldwell was an American musician who was the bassist for the Marshall Tucker Band between 1973 and 1980.

28/04/1978

Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghan commander and politician, 1st President of Afghanistan (born 1909)

Mohammad Daoud Khan, also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan, was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan coup d'état which overthrew the monarchy, served as the first president of Afghanistan from 1973 until his assassination in 1978.

28/04/1977

Ricardo Cortez, American actor (born 1900)

Ricardo Cortez was an American actor and film director. He was also credited as Jack Crane early in his acting career.

Sepp Herberger, German footballer and coach (born 1897)

Josef "Sepp" Herberger was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West Germany national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed The Miracle of Bern, defeating the overwhelming favourites from Hungary. Previously he had also coached the Breslau Eleven, one of the greatest teams in German football history.

28/04/1976

Richard Hughes, British author and poet (born 1900)

Richard Arthur Warren Hughes was a writer of poems, short stories, novels and plays.

28/04/1973

Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (born 1893)

Arnold Clas ("Classe") Robert Thunberg was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 and two at the 1928 Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz. He was the most successful athlete at both of these Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1928 Winter Olympics with Johan Grøttumsbraaten of Norway. No other athlete ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games. He was born and died in Helsinki.

28/04/1970

Ed Begley, American actor (born 1901)

Edward James Begley Sr. was an American actor of theatre, radio, film, and television. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) and appeared in such classics as 12 Angry Men (1957), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). He was twice nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, including for his portrayal of Matthew Harrison Brady in a television adaptation of Inherit the Wind, a role which, ten years before, had earned him the Tony Award. Additionally, he was a one-time Golden Globe, two-time Laurel Award, and three-time Grammy Award nominee. He is the father of the actor and environmental activist Ed Begley Jr.

28/04/1963

Wilhelm Weber, German gymnast (born 1880)

Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm Weber was a German gymnast who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He won 2 medals, 1 silver and 1 bronze, and participated in three Olympic Games. His first edition was at St. Louis in 1904.

28/04/1962

Bennie Osler, South African rugby player (born 1901)

Benjamin Louwrens Osler was a rugby union footballer who played internationally for South Africa. Osler played mainly at fly-half for both South Africa, and his provincial team of Western Province.

28/04/1957

Heinrich Bär, German colonel and pilot (born 1913)

Oskar-Heinrich "Pritzl" Bär was a German Luftwaffe flying ace who served throughout World War II in Europe. Bär flew more than one thousand combat missions, and fought in the Western, Eastern and Mediterranean theatres. On 18 occasions he survived being shot down, and according to records in the German Federal Archives, he claimed to have shot down 228 enemy aircraft and was credited with 208 aerial victories, 16 of which were in a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. Sources credit him with 220 – 96 on Eastern Theatre and 124 on Western Theatre – up to 222 aerial victories may also be possible.

28/04/1956

Fred Marriott, American race car driver (born 1872)

Fred Marriott was an American race car driver. In 1906, he set the world land speed record at 127.659 mph (205.5 km/h) at the Daytona Beach Road Course, while driving the Stanley Land Speed Record Car. This garnered Stanley Motor Carriage Company the Dewar Trophy. A crew of four accompanied the car to Daytona, Marriott was chosen to be driver because he was the only bachelor.

28/04/1954

Léon Jouhaux, French union leader, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1879)

Léon Jouhaux was a French trade union leader who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951.

28/04/1946

Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and academic (born 1870)

Louis Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Bachelier was a French mathematician at the turn of the 20th century. He is credited with being the first person to model the stochastic process now called Brownian motion, as part of his doctoral thesis The Theory of Speculation.

28/04/1945

Roberto Farinacci, Italian soldier and politician (born 1892)

Roberto Farinacci was a leading Italian fascist politician and important member of the National Fascist Party before and during World War II, as well as one of its ardent antisemitic proponents. English historian Christopher Hibbert describes him as "slavishly pro-German".

Hermann Fegelein, German general (born 1906)

Hans Otto Georg Hermann Fegelein was a high-ranking commander in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany. He was Adolf Hitler's liaison officer to Heinrich Himmler and brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her sister Gretl.

Benito Mussolini, Italian journalist, fascist dictator and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1883)

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and dictator who led Italy as Il Duce from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943. He founded fascism in 1919 with the creation of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which became the National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921. Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister of Italy after the March on Rome in 1922, establishing a totalitarian dictatorship. He oversaw Italy's participation in World War II as a prominent member of the Axis Powers, and was summarily executed near the end of the war in 1945.

28/04/1944

Mohammed Alim Khan, Manghud ruler (born 1880)

Emir Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan was the last emir of the Uzbek Manghit dynasty, rulers of the Emirate of Bukhara in Central Asia. Although Bukhara was a protectorate of the Russian Empire from 1873, the Emir presided over the internal affairs of his emirate as an absolute monarch and reigned from 3 January 1911 to 30 August 1920.

Frank Knox, American journalist and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (born 1874)

William Franklin Knox was an American politician, soldier, newspaper editor, and publisher. He was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936 and Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt during most of World War II.

28/04/1939

Anne Walter Fearn, American physician (born 1867)

Anne Walter Fearn was an American physician who went to Shanghai, China, on a temporary posting in 1893, and remained there for 40 years.

28/04/1936

Fuad I of Egypt (born 1868)

Fuad I was the ruler of Egypt from 1917 to 1936. He was the last Sultan and later first King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he ascended to the throne in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Hussein Kamel. He replaced the title of Sultan with King when the United Kingdom unilaterally declared Egyptian independence in 1922.

28/04/1929

Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (born 1879)

Hendrik van Heuckelum, nicknamed Henk, was a Dutch footballer who played as a forward for HBS-Craeyenhout and Royal Léopold Club, and who represented Belgium at the 1900 Summer Olympics, winning the bronze medal in the football tournament.

28/04/1928

May Jordan McConnel, Australian trade unionist and suffragist (born 1860)

Mary Emma Jordan McConnel was an Australian trade unionist and suffragist. She was the first paid female trade union organiser in Queensland.

28/04/1925

Richard Butler, English-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of South Australia (born 1850)

Sir Richard Butler was an Australian politician. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1890 to 1924, representing Yatala (1890–1902) and Barossa (1902–1924). He served as Premier of South Australia from March to July 1905 and Leader of the Opposition from 1905 to 1909. Butler would also variously serve as Speaker of the House of Assembly (1921–1924), and as a minister under Premiers Charles Kingston, John Jenkins and Archibald Peake. His son, Richard Layton Butler, went on to serve as Premier from 1927 to 1930 and 1933 to 1938.

28/04/1921

Maurice Moore (Irish republican), executed member of the Irish Republican Army (born 1894)

Maurice Moore was an Irish republican who fought in the Irish War of Independence. In April 1921 Moore was executed in the military prison of Victoria Barracks after being captured in the aftermath of the Clonmult Ambush.

28/04/1905

Fitzhugh Lee, American general and politician, 40th Governor of Virginia (born 1835)

Fitzhugh Lee was an American Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was a descendant of the Lee Family of Virginia - the son of Sydney Smith Lee, a captain in the Confederate States Navy, and the nephew of Robert E. Lee.

28/04/1903

Josiah Willard Gibbs, American scientist (born 1839)

Josiah Willard Gibbs was an American mechanical engineer and scientist who made fundamental theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynamics was instrumental in transforming physical chemistry into a rigorous deductive science. Together with James Clerk Maxwell and Ludwig Boltzmann, he created statistical mechanics, explaining the laws of thermodynamics as consequences of the statistical properties of ensembles of the possible states of a physical system composed of many particles. Gibbs also worked on the application of Maxwell's equations to problems in physical optics. As a mathematician, he created modern vector calculus and described the Gibbs phenomenon in the theory of Fourier analysis.

28/04/1902

Cyprien Tanguay, Canadian priest and historian (born 1819)

Cyprien Tanguay was a French Canadian priest and historian.

28/04/1883

John Russell, English hunter and dog breeder (born 1795)

John "Jack" Russell, was an English parson, dog breeder, and enthusiastic follower of country sports, particularly fox hunting. He was known as "The Sporting Parson".

28/04/1881

Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (born 1818)

Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon was a French sculptor and photographer.

28/04/1865

Samuel Cunard, Canadian-English businessman, founded Cunard Line (born 1787)

Sir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet, was a British-Canadian shipping magnate, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who founded the Cunard Line, establishing the first scheduled steamship connection with North America. He was the son of a master carpenter and timber merchant who had fled the American Revolution and settled in Halifax.

28/04/1858

Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist and anatomist (born 1801)

Johannes Peter Müller was a German physiologist, comparative anatomist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist, known not only for his discoveries but also for his ability to synthesize knowledge. The paramesonephric duct was named in his honor.

28/04/1853

Ludwig Tieck, German author and poet (born 1773)

Johann Ludwig Tieck was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

28/04/1841

Peter Chanel, French priest, missionary, and martyr (born 1803)

Peter Louis Marie Chanel, SM, was a Catholic priest, missionary, and martyr. Chanel was a member of the Society of Mary and was sent as a missionary to Oceania. He arrived on the island of Futuna in November 1837. Chanel was clubbed to death in April 1841 at the instigation of a chief upset because his son had converted.

28/04/1816

Johann Heinrich Abicht, German philosopher, author, and academic (born 1762)

Johann Heinrich Abicht was a German philosopher.

28/04/1813

Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (born 1745)

Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky was a field marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as a military officer and a diplomat under the reign of three Romanov monarchs: Empress Catherine II, and Emperors Paul I and Alexander I. Kutuzov was shot in the head twice while fighting the Turks and survived the serious injuries seemingly against all odds. He defeated Napoleon as commander-in-chief using attrition warfare in the Patriotic War of 1812. For the Battle of Krasnoi against Napoleon, Kutuzov received the victory title of Smolensky to add to his surname; the word Smolensky literally means "of Smolensk". Alexander I, the incumbent Tsar during Napoleon's invasion, would write that he would be remembered amongst Europe's most famous commanders and that Russia would never forget his worthiness.

28/04/1781

Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (born 1723)

Cornelius Harnett was an American Founding Father, politician, merchant, plantation owner, and slaveholder from Wilmington, North Carolina. He was a leading American Revolutionary statesman in the Cape Fear region, and a delegate for North Carolina in the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1779 where he signed the Articles of Confederation. Cornelius Harnett is the namesake of Harnett County, North Carolina.

28/04/1772

Johann Friedrich Struensee, German physician and politician (born 1737)

Lensgreve Johann Friedrich Struensee was a German-Danish physician, philosopher and statesman. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark-Norway and a minister in the Danish government. He rose in power to a position of de facto regent of the country, and he initiated a number of widespread reforms. His affair with Queen Caroline Matilda caused a scandal, especially after the birth of a daughter, Princess Louise Augusta, and he contributed to the intrigues and power play that led to his downfall and execution.

28/04/1741

Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (born 1668)

Magnus Julius De la Gardie, son of Axel Julius De la Gardie, was a Swedish general and statesman, member of the Swedish Hats Party.

28/04/1726

Thomas Pitt, English merchant and politician (born 1653)

Thomas Pitt was a British merchant, colonial administrator and politician who served as the president of Fort St. George from 1698 to 1709. Born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, he eventually went to the Indian subcontinent in the service of the English East India Company (EIC) and rose to a senior position in the Presidency of Fort St. George, administering the EIC's affairs within the region. After a lucrative career in India, Pitt returned to England and entered into a political career, being elected six times to the Parliament of Great Britain. His descendants would go on to found a political dynasty, with Pitt's grandson and great-grandson both serving as Prime Minister of Great Britain.

28/04/1716

Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (born 1673)

Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, SMM was a French Catholic priest known for his influence on Catholic Mariology. He wrote a number of books that went on to become classic Catholic titles, including Secret of the Rosary and True Devotion to Mary, and influenced several popes. He also founded several religious communities, including the Company of Mary.

28/04/1710

Thomas Betterton, English actor and manager (born 1630)

Thomas Betterton was the leading male actor and theatre manager during Restoration England. He was the son of an under-cook to King Charles I and was born in London.

28/04/1643

Francisco de Lucena, Portuguese politician (born 1578)

Francisco de Lucena was a Portuguese nobleman and King John IV's first Secretary of State, and the first after the Restoration War and end of the Iberian Union. He made many enemies during his term in office, and was rumoured to be fraternising with the Spanish Crown, which led to his imprisonment and, later, his execution.

28/04/1533

Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (born 1461)

Nicholas West, was an English bishop and diplomatist, born at Putney in Surrey, and educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow in 1486. He also had periods of study at Oxford and Bologna.

28/04/1489

Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, English politician (born 1449)

Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland KG was an English aristocrat during the Wars of the Roses. After losing his title when his father was killed fighting the Yorkists, he later regained his position. He led the rearguard of Richard III's army at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, but failed to commit his troops. He was briefly imprisoned by Henry VII, but later restored to his position. A few years later he was murdered by citizens of York during a revolt against Henry VII's taxation.

28/04/1400

Baldus de Ubaldis, Italian jurist (born 1327)

Baldus de Ubaldis was an Italian jurist, and a leading figure in Medieval Roman Law and the school of Postglossators.

28/04/1260

Luchesius Modestini, founding member of the Third Order of St. Francis

Luchesius Modestini, TOSF is honored by tradition within the Franciscan Order as being, along with his wife, Buonadonna de' Segni, the first members of the Franciscan Order of Penance, most commonly referred to as the Third Order of St. Francis.

28/04/1257

Shajar al-Durr, sovereign sultana of Egypt

Shajar al-Durr, also Shajarat al-Durr, whose royal name was al-Malika ʿAṣmat ad-Dīn ʾUmm-Khalīl Shajar ad-Durr, was a ruler of Egypt of Turkic origin. She was the wife of As-Salih Ayyub, and later of Izz al-Din Aybak, the first sultan of the Mamluk Bahri dynasty. Prior to becoming Ayyub's wife, she was a child slave and Ayyub's concubine.

28/04/1197

Rhys ap Gruffydd, prince of Deheubarth (born 1132)

Rhys ap Gruffudd or The Lord Rhys was the prince of the region of Deheubarth in south Wales from 1155 to 1197. He also referred to himself as the "Prince of Wales" or "Prince of the Welsh" in two surviving charters.

28/04/1192

Conrad of Montferrat (born 1140)

Conrad of Montferrat was a nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem by virtue of his marriage to Isabella I of Jerusalem from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death. He was also the eighth Marquess of Montferrat from 1191.

28/04/1109

Abbot Hugh of Cluny (born 1024)

Hugh, sometimes called Hugh the Great or Hugh of Semur, was the Abbot of Cluny from 1049 until his death in 1109. He was one of the most influential leaders of the monastic orders from the Middle Ages.

28/04/0992

Jawhar as-Siqilli, Fatimid statesman

Al-Qaid Jawhar ibn Abdallah was a Fatimid general of Croatian origin who led the conquest of Maghreb, and subsequently the conquest of Egypt, for the 4th Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah. He served as viceroy of Egypt until al-Mu'izz's arrival in 973, consolidating Fatimid control over the country. After that, he retired from public life until his death.

28/04/0988

Adaldag, archbishop of Bremen

Adaldag was the seventh archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, from 937 until his death.

28/04/0948

Hu Jinsi, Chinese general and prefect

Hu Jinsi (胡進思) was a general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Wuyue, becoming powerful during the reign of its third king Qian Hongzuo. After Qian Hongzuo's death, Hu had frequent conflicts with Qian Hongzuo's brother and successor Qian Hongzong. Fearing that Qian Hongzong would kill him, he deposed Qian Hongzong in a coup and replaced him with his brother Qian Hongchu.

28/04/0224

Artabanus IV of Parthia (born 191)

Artabanus IV, also known as Ardavan IV, incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus V, was the last monarch of the Parthian Empire from c. 213 to 224. He was the younger son of Vologases V, who died in 208.

Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 28th April

Christian feast day: Aphrodisius and companions

Aphrodisius is a saint associated with the diocese of Béziers, in Languedoc, Southern France.

Christian feast day: Gianna Beretta Molla

Gianna Beretta Molla was an Italian Catholic pediatrician. Although aware of possible fatal consequences, Molla refused both an abortion and a hysterectomy during her pregnancy with her fourth child in order to preserve the child's life.

Christian feast day: Kirill of Turov (Orthodox, added to Roman Martyrology in 1969)

Cyril of Turov, alternately Kirill of Turov was a bishop and saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was one of the first and finest theologians of Kievan Rus'; he lived in Principality of Turov, now southern Belarus. His feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is on 28 April.

Christian feast day: Louis de Montfort

Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, SMM was a French Catholic priest known for his influence on Catholic Mariology. He wrote a number of books that went on to become classic Catholic titles, including Secret of the Rosary and True Devotion to Mary, and influenced several popes. He also founded several religious communities, including the Company of Mary.

Christian feast day: Blessed Marie Louise Trichet

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Pamphilus of Sulmona

Pamphilus of Sulmona was bishop of Sulmona and Corfinio (Valva) during the late 7th century. He is revered as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Christian feast day: Peter Chanel

Peter Louis Marie Chanel, SM, was a Catholic priest, missionary, and martyr. Chanel was a member of the Society of Mary and was sent as a missionary to Oceania. He arrived on the island of Futuna in November 1837. Chanel was clubbed to death in April 1841 at the instigation of a chief upset because his son had converted.

Christian feast day: Vitalis and Valeria of Milan

Vitalis of Milan was an early Christian martyr and saint.

Christian feast day: April 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

April 27 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - April 29

Mujahideen Victory Day (Afghanistan)

Mujahideen Victory Day is a political holiday observed in all parts of Afghanistan, falling on the 28 April each year. It commemorates the day when Mujahideen rebel forces overthrew the Communist government in 1992. It is celebrated mostly by former Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Some Afghans are against celebrating the day because it marks the start of civil war.

National Heroes Day (Barbados)

Heroes' Day or National Heroes' Day may refer to a number of commemorations of national heroes in different countries and territories. It is often held on the birthday, or the death of a national hero or heroine, or the anniversary of their great deeds that made them heroes.

Restoration of Sovereignty Day (Japan)

Shinzo Abe was a Japanese statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, serving for nearly nine years.

Sardinia Day (Sardinia)

Sardinia's Day, also known as the Sardinian People's Day, is a holiday in Sardinia commemorating the Sardinian Vespers, which occurred from 1794 to 1796.

Workers' Memorial Day and World Day for Safety and Health at Work (international) National Day of Mourning (Canada)

The National Day of Mourning, or Workers' Mourning Day is observed in Canada on 28 April. It commemorates workers who have been killed, injured or suffered illness due to workplace related hazards and occupational exposures.

Ed Balls Day

Edward Michael Balls is a British broadcaster, economist and former politician. He served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2011 to 2015. A member of Labour Co-op, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Normanton and later for Morley and Outwood between 2005 and 2015.

What Happened on 28th April?

51 significant events took place on Friday, 28th April — stretching from 224 to 2004. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

28/04/2004

CBS News releases evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over Iraqi detainees.

CBS News is the news division of the American television broadcaster CBS headquartered in New York City. Along with ABC News and NBC News, it has long been among the big three broadcast news networks in the United States.

28/04/1996

Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 41⁄2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.

The Whitewater controversy, Whitewater scandal, or simply Whitewater, was an American political controversy during the 1990s, surrounding the Whitewater Development Corporation, a real estate company owned by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton and their associates, Jim and Susan McDougal.

Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others.

The Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on 28 April 1996 at Port Arthur, a tourist town in the Australian state of Tasmania. The perpetrator, Martin Bryant, murdered 35 people and wounded 23 others, in the deadliest massacre in modern Australian history. The attack led to fundamental changes in Australia's gun laws.

28/04/1994

Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving US secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and conducting covert operations. The agency is headquartered in the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia, and is sometimes metonymously called "Langley". A major member of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA has reported to the director of national intelligence since 2004, and is focused on providing intelligence for the president and the Cabinet, though it also provides intelligence for a variety of other entities including the United States Armed Forces and foreign allies.

28/04/1991

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-39, the first unclassified shuttle mission for the United States Department of Defense.

Space Shuttle Discovery is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The spaceplane was one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, aggregating more spaceflights than any other spacecraft as of December 2024. The Space Shuttle launch vehicle had three main components: the Space Shuttle orbiter, a single-use central fuel tank, and two reusable solid rocket boosters. Nearly 25,000 heat-resistant tiles cover the orbiter to protect it from high temperatures on re-entry.

28/04/1988

Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight.

Maui is the second-largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of Maui County's four sizable islands, along with Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, and Kahoʻolawe.

28/04/1986

High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.

On 26 April 1986, reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, exploded. With dozens of direct casualties and thousands of health complications stemming from the disaster, it is one of only two nuclear accidents rated at the maximum severity on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. The response involved more than 500,000 personnel and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles. It remains the worst nuclear disaster and the most expensive disaster in history, with an estimated cost of US$700 billion.

28/04/1983

The West German news magazine Stern begins publishing excerpts from the purported diaries of Adolf Hitler, later revealed to be forgeries.

Stern is an illustrated, broadly left-liberal, weekly current affairs magazine published in Hamburg, Germany, by Gruner + Jahr, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann. Under the editorship (1948–1980) of its founder Henri Nannen, it attained a circulation of between 1.5 and 1.8 million, the largest in Europe's for a magazine of its kind.

28/04/1978

The President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.

The President of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces.

28/04/1977

The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.

The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang, was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970, active until 1998, and formally designated a terrorist organisation by the West German government. The RAF described itself as a communist and anti-imperialist urban guerrilla group. It was engaged in armed resistance against what it considered a fascist state. Members of the RAF generally used the Marxist–Leninist term "faction" when they wrote in English. Early leadership included Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, and Horst Mahler.

28/04/1975

General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closes in on victory.

Cao Văn Viên was a four-star army general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He rose to the position of Chairman of the South Vietnamese Joint General Staff. Considered one of "the most gifted" of South Vietnam's military leaders, he was previously called an "absolute key figure" and one of "the most important Vietnamese military leaders" in the U.S.-led fighting during the Vietnam War. Along with Trần Thiện Khiêm he was one of only two four-star generals in the entire history of South Vietnam.

28/04/1973

The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Capitol Records in the US, and on 16 March 1973 by Harvest Records in the UK. Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of former band member Syd Barrett, who had departed the group in 1968. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios in London.

28/04/1970

Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

28/04/1969

Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany and Vichy France in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France. Following the 1958 Algiers putsch, he came out of retirement at the request of President René Coty, who appointed him Prime Minister. He commissioned a new constitution which was approved by voters in a referendum, establishing the Fifth Republic. He was subsequently elected President of France later that year, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He is widely regarded as the greatest Frenchman of the 20th century.

28/04/1967

Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

28/04/1965

United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate US Army troops.

The Dominican Civil War, also known as the April Revolution, took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democratically elected president Juan Bosch ousted the militarily-installed president Donald Reid Cabral from office. The second coup prompted General Elías Wessin y Wessin to organize elements of the military loyal to the dictator Reid ("loyalists") and launch an armed campaign against the "constitutionalist" rebels.

28/04/1952

Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in order to campaign in the 1952 United States presidential election.

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. A General of the Army, Eisenhower was the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. His successful leadership in Operation Torch (1942–1943) and Operation Overlord was pivotal to the Allied victory in World War II.

The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, restoring Japanese sovereignty and ending its state of war with most of the Allies of World War II.

The Treaty of San Francisco, also called the Treaty of Peace with Japan, re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allies on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war, military occupation and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It was signed by 49 nations on September 8, 1951, in San Francisco, United States, at the War Memorial Opera House. Italy and China were not invited, the latter due to disagreements on whether the Republic of China or the People's Republic of China represented the Chinese people. Korea was also not invited due to a similar disagreement on whether South Korea or North Korea represented the Korean people.

The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty, formally the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan and commonly known as the Treaty of Taipei, was a peace treaty between Japan and the Republic of China (ROC) signed in Taipei, Taiwan on 28 April 1952, and took effect on August 5 the same year, marking the formal end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).

28/04/1949

The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.

The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon, better known by the abbreviation Hukbalahap, was a Filipino communist guerrilla movement formed by the farmers of Central Luzon. They were originally formed to fight the Japanese, but extended their fight into a rebellion against the Philippine government, known as the Hukbalahap rebellion in 1946. It was eventually put down through a series of reforms and military victories by Defense Secretary, and later President, Ramon Magsaysay.

28/04/1948

Igor Stravinsky conducts the premiere of his American ballet, Orpheus at the New York City Center.

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer and conductor with French and American citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century and a pivotal figure in modernist music.

28/04/1947

Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.

Thor Heyerdahl KStJ was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography.

28/04/1945

Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and dictator who led Italy as Il Duce from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943. He founded fascism in 1919 with the creation of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which became the National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921. Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister of Italy after the March on Rome in 1922, establishing a totalitarian dictatorship. He oversaw Italy's participation in World War II as a prominent member of the Axis Powers, and was summarily executed near the end of the war in 1945.

The Holocaust: Nazi Germany carries out its final use of gas chambers to execute 33 Upper Austrian socialist and communist leaders in Mauthausen concentration camp.

The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered around six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, approximately two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were committed primarily through mass shootings across Eastern Europe and poison gas chambers in extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Chełmno and Majdanek death camps in occupied Poland. Concurrent Nazi persecutions killed millions of other non-Jewish civilians and prisoners of war (POWs); the term Holocaust is sometimes used to include the murder and persecution of non-Jewish groups, such as the Romani and Soviet POWs.

28/04/1944

World War II: Nine German E-boats attack US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

28/04/1941

The Ustaše massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia.

The Ustaše, was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945. It was formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Movement. From its inception and before the Second World War, the organization engaged in a series of terrorist activities against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It collaborated with IMRO to assassinate King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in 1934. During World War II in Yugoslavia, the Ustaše went on to perpetrate the Holocaust and genocide against its Jewish, Serb and Roma populations, killing hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma, as well as Muslim and Croat political dissidents. The ideology of the movement combined fascism, Roman Catholicism and Croatian ultranationalism.

28/04/1937

South African medical researcher Max Theiler develops the yellow fever vaccine at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City.

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. Its nine provinces are bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres of coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres, the country has a population of over 63 million people, making it the sixth-most populated country in Africa. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest and most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban.

28/04/1930

The Independence Producers host the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas.

The Independence Producers were a minor league baseball team based in Independence, Kansas, United States, that played from 1921 to 1925 and from 1928 to 1932. From 1921 to 1924, they played in the Southwestern League, and in 1925 they played in the Western Association. They played in the Western Association from 1928 to 1932 as well. The 1921 Producers were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time. Perhaps their most notable alumnus was Cy Blanton. Glenn Wright, another notable Producer, made an unassisted triple play when playing Major League Baseball in 1925.

28/04/1923

Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.

The first Wembley Stadium, originally known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, London, England. It opened in 1923 and was demolished in 2002 to make room for the new Wembley Stadium.

28/04/1920

The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is founded.

The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1991. Azerbaijan SSR was created on 28 April 1920 following the Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan. When the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic brought pro-Soviet figures to power in the region, the first two years of the Azerbaijani SSR were as an independent country until incorporation into the Transcaucasian SFSR, along with the Armenian SSR and the Georgian SSR.

28/04/1910

Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in the United Kingdom.

Isidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan, was a French aviator. He is known for winning the first Daily Mail aviation prize for the first flight between London and Manchester in 1910.

28/04/1887

A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of Wilhelm I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war.

The Prussian Secret Police was the secret police of Prussia in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

28/04/1881

Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.

Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who was linked to nine murders. He was solely responsible for four of them, and he may have played a role in five, alongside other men. He is also noted for his involvement in New Mexico's Lincoln County War.

28/04/1869

Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the first transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.

The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North America. Incorporated in 1861, CPRR ceased independent operations in 1885 when the railroad was leased to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Its assets were formally merged into Southern Pacific in 1959.

28/04/1859

The sailing clipper ship Pomona is wrecked on the coast of Ireland with the loss of 424 of the 448 passengers and crew aboard.

The Pomona was a fast packet clipper ship constructed in 1856 for Howland and Frothingham. She operated for just over two and a half years transporting emigrants and cargo from Liverpool, England to New York City. Pomona sank in the early morning of April 28, 1859 after a navigation error caused the ship to strike the coast of Ireland at County Wexford. 424 of the 448 people on board died.

28/04/1858

The Bawani Imli massacre, where 52 Indian freedom fighters are hanged to death on a tamarind tree by British colonial forces.

The Bawani Imli massacre was the execution of 52 Indian freedom fighters including Thakur Jodha Singh Ataiya by British East India Company forces on 28 April 1858 during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The executions took place on a tamarind tree, locally known as "Bawani Imli", 6 km from Bindki tehsil, and located 30 km from the town of Khajuha in Fatehpur district, Uttar Pradesh, India. This event is considered a significant yet often overlooked episode in the Indian independence movement.

28/04/1796

The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.

The Treaty of Paris of 15 May 1796 was a treaty between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia during the War of the First Coalition.

28/04/1794

Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution against the Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island.

Sardinians or Sards are an ethnolinguistic group of Italy indigenous to Sardinia, an island in the western Mediterranean which is administratively an autonomous region of Italy.

28/04/1792

France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars.

The Austrian Netherlands were the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714. It lasted until Revolutionary France annexed the territory after the Battle of Sprimont in 1794 and the Peace of Basel in 1795. Austria relinquished its claim on the province in 1797 through the Treaty of Campo Formio.

28/04/1789

The Mutiny on the Bounty occurs, with the ship's captain, Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors, set adrift, and the rebel crew setting sail for Tahiti. Eventually the majority of rebels sail for Pitcairn Island.

The Mutiny on the Bounty occurred in the Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of HMS Bounty from the captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set him and eighteen loyalists adrift in the ship's open launch. The reasons behind the mutiny are still debated.

28/04/1788

Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.

Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States. It borders Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east, as well as with the Atlantic Ocean to its east, and the national capital and federal district of Washington, D.C. to the southwest. With a total area of 12,407 square miles (32,130 km2), Maryland is the ninth-smallest state by land area, and its population of 6.1 million ranks it the 19th-most populous state and the fifth-most densely populated. Maryland's capital city is Annapolis, and the state's most populous city is Baltimore.

28/04/1758

The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture the city.

The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. For most of its existence, it comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent Maratha states under the nominal leadership of the former and nominal loyalty to the Chhatrapatis who were successors of Shivaji.

28/04/1738

Pope Clement XII issues the first papal condemnation of Freemasonry and formally prohibits Catholics from becoming Freemasons.

Pope Clement XII, born Lorenzo Corsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740.

28/04/1625

A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War.

The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa, various islands in Asia and Oceania, as well as territory in other parts of Europe. It was one of the most powerful empires of the early modern period, becoming known as "the empire on which the sun never sets". At its greatest extent in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Spanish Empire covered 13.7 million square kilometres, making it one of the largest empires in history.

28/04/1611

Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, the Catholic University of the Philippines and the largest Catholic university in the world.

The University of Santo Tomas, officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as Ustê, is a private Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Miguel de Benavides, third Archbishop of Manila, it has the oldest extant university charter in Asia and is one of the world's largest Catholic universities in terms of enrollment found on one campus. It is the main campus of the University of Santo Tomas System that is run by the Order of Preachers.

28/04/1503

The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.

The Battle of Cerignola was fought on 28 April 1503 between Spanish and French armies outside the town of Cerignola, Apulia, Kingdom of Naples, approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Bari. The Spanish force under the command of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba comprising around 9,000 men, including 2,000 Landsknecht pikemen, 1,000 arquebusiers and 20 cannons, defeated the French force of 9,000 men, mainly gendarme heavy cavalry and Swiss mercenary pikemen, with about 40 cannons, led by Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, who was killed during the battle.

28/04/1294

Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols with the reigning title Oljeitu.

Öljeyitü Khan, born Temür, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzong of Yuan, was the second emperor of the Yuan dynasty of China, ruling from 10 May 1294 to 10 February 1307. Apart from being the Emperor of China, he is considered as the sixth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire. He was an able ruler of the Yuan dynasty, and his reign established the patterns of power for the next few decades.

28/04/1253

Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.

Nichiren was a Japanese Buddhist monk and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the Lotus Sutra.

28/04/1192

Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.

Conrad of Montferrat was a nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem by virtue of his marriage to Isabella I of Jerusalem from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death. He was also the eighth Marquess of Montferrat from 1191.

28/04/0357

Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.

Constantius II was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civil wars, court intrigues, and usurpations. His religious policies inflamed domestic conflicts that would continue after his death.

28/04/0224

The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V, effectively ending the Parthian Empire.

The Battle of Hormozdgan was the climactic battle between the Arsacid and the Sasanian dynasties that took place on 28 April 224. The Sasanian victory broke the power of the Parthian dynasty, effectively ending almost five centuries of Parthian rule in Iran, and marking the official start of the Sasanian era.

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Personality Profile

Fun Facts About 28th April

Famous Birthdays on 28th April

Anthony Volpe, American baseball player

Victoria De Angelis, Italian musician

Alek Thomas, American baseball player

Song Yu-bin, South Korean singer and actor

Shane McClanahan, American baseball player

Denzel Ward, American football player

Connor Clifton, American ice hockey player

Melanie Martinez, American singer

Jakob Butturff, American bowler

Wonpil, South Korean musician

Matt Chapman, American baseball player

Eva Samková, Czech snowboarder

Blake Bortles, American football player

DeMarcus Lawrence, American football player

Emil Salomonsson, Swedish footballer

Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer

Jonathan Biabiany, French footballer

Juan Mata, Spanish footballer

Daequan Cook, American basketball player

Drew Gulak, American wrestler

Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian actress and model

Bradley Johnson, English footballer

Zoran Tošić, Serbian footballer

Roman Polák, Czech ice hockey player

Jenna Ushkowitz, Korean-American actress, singer, and dancer

Lucas Jakubczyk, German sprinter and long jumper

Deividas Stagniūnas, Lithuanian ice dancer

Dmitri Torbinski, Russian footballer

Josh Brookes, Australian motorcycle racer

David Freese, American baseball player

Roger Johnson, English footballer

Thomas Waldrom, New Zealand-English rugby player

Nikki Grahame, English model and journalist (died 2021)

Chris Kaman, American basketball player

Jessica Alba, American model and actress

Bradley Wiggins, English cyclist

Scott Fujita, American football player and sportscaster

Lauren Laverne, English singer and television and radio host

Titus O'Neil, American wrestler and football player

Michael Walchhofer, Austrian skier

Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress and producer

Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player and coach (died 2011)

Vernon Kay, English radio and television host

Dominic Matteo, Scottish footballer and journalist

Jorge Garcia, American actor and producer

Andrew Mehrtens, South African-New Zealand rugby player

Violent J, American rapper

Jean-Paul van Gastel, Dutch footballer and manager

Bridget Moynahan, American actress

Richard Fromberg, Australian tennis player

Nicklas Lidström, Swedish ice hockey player and scout

Diego Simeone, Argentinian footballer and manager

LeRon Perry Ellis, American basketball player

Petra Bayr, Austrian politician

Howard Donald, English singer-songwriter and producer

Andy Flower, South-African-Zimbabwean cricketer and coach

Chris White, English engineer and politician

John Daly, American golfer

Too Short, American rapper, producer and actor

Stephen Ames, Trinidadian golfer

Noriyuki Iwadare, Japanese composer

Ajay Kakkar, Baron Kakkar, English surgeon and academic

Barry Larkin, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster

L'Wren Scott, American model and fashion designer (died 2014)

Lloyd Eisler, Canadian figure skater and coach

Marc Lacroix, Belgian biochemist and academic

Tom Browning, American baseball player (died 2022)

Elena Kagan, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Phil King, English bass player

Ian Rankin, Scottish author

Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strongman and weightlifter (died 1993)

Walter Zenga, Italian footballer and manager

Hal Sutton, American golfer