Post
by Richard Frost » Fri Apr 23 2021 10:35am
23 April
St George's Day
St George is the patron saint of England. He lived and died in the Middle East, but his popularity grew after the Crusades, when his red cross on a white background became the symbol of the English Crusaders.
Saint George's Day, also called the Feast of Saint George, is the feast day of Saint George as celebrated by various Christian Churches and by the several nations, kingdoms, countries and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint including Bulgaria, England, Georgia, Portugal, Spain (Catalonia and Aragon).
Saint George's Day is normally celebrated on 23 April. However, Church of England rules denote that no saints' day should be celebrated between Palm Sunday and the Sunday after Easter Day so if 23 April falls in that period the celebrations are transferred to after it. 23 April is the traditionally accepted date of the saint's death in the Diocletianic Persecution of AD 303.
World Book and Copyright Day
World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day, or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to promote reading, publishing, and copyright. The first World Book Day was celebrated on 23 April in 1995, and continues to be recognized on that day
The original idea was of the Spanish writer Vicente Clavel Andrés as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes, first on 7 October, his birth date, then on 23 April, his death date. In 1995 UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April, as the date is also the anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, as well as that of the birth or death of several other prominent authors.[1] (In a historical coincidence, Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same date — 23 April 1616 — but not on the same day, as at the time, Spain used the Gregorian calendar and England used the Julian calendar; Shakespeare actually died 10 days after Cervantes died, on 3 May of the Gregorian calendar).
English Language Day
English Language Day is a United Nations (UN) observance that people celebrate on April 23 each year. It coincides with William Shakespeare’s birthday and World Book and Copyright Day . English is one of the most popular languages used worldwide.
Spanish Language Day
UN Spanish Language Day is observed annually on 23 April. The event was established by UN's Department of Public Information in 2010 to seeking "to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six of its official working languages throughout the organization". The day was firstly observed on 12 October to celebrate the Dia de la Hispanidad in some Spanish-speaking countries for the discovery of American continent. Later the day was changed to 23 April to pay tribute to Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who died on the same day in 1616.
International Girls in ICT Day
International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated across the world on the fourth Thursday of April. Initiated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), it aims to contribute to the empowerment of girls and young women in terms of education and career in the field of information and communications technology.
On this day in history
215 BC A temple, built on the Capitoline Hill, is dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene
1014 King Brian Boru of Ireland defeats Viking forces at Battle of Clontarf, freeing Ireland from foreign control
1154 Damascus surrenders to Sultan Nur ad-Din van Aleppo
1229 Ferdinand III of Castile conquers Cáceres
1343 St. George's Night Uprising in Estonia
1348 The Order of Garter founded by English King Edward III, Britain's highest civic or military honor
1504 King Maximilian I routes troops to Bavaria
1516 Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria endorses "The German Beer Purity Law" (Reinheitsgebot) and adds to it standards for the sale of beer in Bavaria, ensuring beer is only brewed from three ingredients – water, malt and hops
1597 William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I in attendance
1616 Netherlands buys De Briel/Vlissingen/Fort Rammekens from England
1633 Sweden & Protestant German monarchy form Union of Heilbronn
1635 Oldest US public institution, Boston Latin School founded
1660 Treaty of Oliwa is established between Sweden and Poland
1661 English king Charles II crowned in London
1662 Connecticut chartered as an English colony
1702 Queen Anne is crowned at Westminster Abbey, London
1705 Richard Steele's play "Tender Husband" premieres in London
1723 Cornelis Steenoven elected archbishop of Utrecht
1775 Opera "Il Ré Pastore" (The Shepherd King) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is first produced in Salzburg
1789 President-elect George Washington moves into Franklin House, New York
1795 William Hastings acquitted in England of high treason
1798 Dutch emperor accepts new Constitution
1826 Missolonghi, Greece captured by Turks
1827 Irish mathematician/astronomer William Rowan Hamilton presents his Theory of Systems of Rays
1838 English steamship "Great Western" crosses the Atlantic docks in NYC
1849 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and members of the Petrashevsky Circle are arrested in St. Petersburg
1851 Canada issues its 1st postage stamps
1860 Democratic convention in Charleston, South Carolina divided over slavery
1861 Robert E. Lee named commander of Virginia Confederate forces (US Civil War)
1861 Arkansas troops seize Fort Smith on the Arkansas River
1864 Battle of Cane River, Louisiana (Red River Expedition, Monett's Ferry)
1867 Queen Victoria & Napoleon III turn down plans for a channel tunnel
1871 Blossom Rock in San Francisco Bay blown up
1878 1st Dutch test drive of steam tram
1881 Gilbert & Sullivan's opera "Patience" premieres at The Opera Comique, London
1883 John Heemskerk Abrahamszoon forms Dutch government
1891 Jews are expelled from Moscow, Russia
1896 Vitascope system of movie projection 1st shown at Koster & Bial's Music Hall, New York City
1900 1st know occurrence of word "hillbillie" (NY Journal)
1904 American Academy of Arts & Letters forms
1908 Denmark, Germany, Britain, France, Netherlands & Sweden sign North Sea accord
1910 International Exhibition opens in Brussels, Belgium
1915 ACA becomes National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA)
1916 Lord Dunsany's "Night at an Inn" premieres in NYC
1918 Raid of Zeebrugge; the British navy attempts to block German vessels from leaving port by sinking obsolete ships - mostly fails
1918 Dover Patrol overthrows Germany U-boat in East Sea
1920 Turkish Grand National Assembly 1st meets in Ankara, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution
1921 Charles Paddock runs world record 100m (10.4 secs)
1923 Inauguration ceremonies take place at Gdynia, Poland to mark its new status as a temporary military port and fishers' shelter
1924 British Empire Exhibition opens at Wembley, London
1925 1st London performance of Franz Lehár’s operetta "Frasquita" staged
1925 Pastor LH Perquin forms Union of Catholic Dutch Radio (KRO)
1925 Having badly defeated Spain and driven her out of Spanish Morocco, the native Riffi, led by Abd-el-Krim, turn on the French in French Morocco
1931 US gangster film "The Public Enemy" starring James Cagney and Jean Harlow premieres
1932 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opens at Stratford-on-Avon, England
1932 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, the Netherlands, burns down
1933 Dovo soccer team forms in Veenendaal
1935 Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted
1938 Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia demand self government
1939 1st performance of Béla Bartok's 2nd Concerto for violin
1940 Dance hall fires kills 198 in Natchez, Mississippi
1941 Greek Army surrenders to Germany; British RAF evacuates the Greek King George II to Egypt
1942 4-day allied bombing on Rostock begins
1942 1st night Exeter bombed by German Luftwaffe
1943 British & US offensive directed at Tunis and Bizerta
1945 Concentration camp Flossenburg liberated
1945 US troops in Italy cross river Po
1949 Chinese Red army conquers Nanjing
1949 Netherlands annexes Elten & Tudderen
1950 Nationalist China evacuates Hainan Island
1952 Crude oil pipeline from Kirkuk (Iraq) to Banias (Syria) completed
1953 General Charles P. Cabell, USAF, becomes deputy director of CIA
1953 "Shane", directed by George Stevens and based on the 1949 novel by Jack Schaefer, starring Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur, is released
1955 Robert Wright and George Forrest's musical "Kismet" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 583 performances
1958 Robert Kurka's "The Good Soldier Schweik", with libretto written by Abe Meeropol, premieres at the New York City Opera
1959 "Destry Rides Again" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 472 performances
1959 1st heliport in Britain opens in London
1961 "Tenderloin" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 216 performances
1961 Algiers putsch by French generals
1962 Ranger 4, 1st US satellite to reach Moon launched from Cape Canaveral
1963 Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's musical "She Loves Me" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 302 performances
1964 James Baldwin's play "Blues for Mr Charlie" premieres in NYC
1964 New York State Theater opens
1965 Launch of 1st Soviet communications satellite
1965 "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" single released by the Four Tops (Billboard Song of the Year 1965)
1967 Soyuz 1 launched; Vladimir Komarov becomes 1st in-flight casualty
1968 "I'm Solomon" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 7 performances
1968 1st decimal coins issued in Britain (5 & 10 new pence, replacing shilling and two-shilling pieces)
1968 United Methodist Church forms
1969 Over 1000 square miles flooded in Shantung Province, China
1969 Sirhan Sirhan sentenced to death for killing US Senator Robert F. Kennedy (later computed to life sentence)
1969 The Unionist Parliamentary Party votes by 28 to 22 to introduce universal adult suffrage in local government elections in Northern Ireland; the demand for 'one man, one vote' had been one of the most powerful slogans of the civil rights movement
1971 Columbia University operations virtually end, by student strike
1972 26th Tony Awards: Sticks & Bones & 2 Gentlemen of Verona win
1972 Apollo 16 astronauts explores Moon surface
1972 The Sunday Times Insight Team publish their account of the events of 'Bloody Sunday'
1974 USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR
1975 Harold Pinter's play "No Man's Land" premieres in London
1977 ADO Den Haag soccer team forms in The Hague, Netherlands
1977 Dr Allen Bussey completes 20,302 yo-yo loops
1977 Milt workers kill 300-500 students in Addis Ababa
1977 Czech chess master Vlastimil Hort plays 201 games simultaneously & only loses 10
1978 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1979 Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police Special Patrol Group results in the death of protester Blair Peach.
1980 Soviet sub catches fire off Japan, 9 die
1982 Conch Republic is established - secession of the Florida Keys from the United States of America
1982 The 8-bit personal home computer the Sinclair ZX Spectrum is released (goes on to sell 5 million worldwide)
1983 David Hookes scores his only Test Cricket century, 143* v Sri Lanka
1983 28th Eurovision Song Contest: Corinne Hermes for Luxembourg wins singing "Si la vie est cadeau" in Munich
1984 AIDS-virus identified as HTLV-III (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)
1985 Brooklyn College soccer team wins Nepal's invitational
1985 New Coke debuts; Coca-Cola announced it is changing its secret flavor formula
1986 Grand Floridian Beach Resort groundbreaking
1986 Madrid-Nelli Cooman runs world record 60m indoor (7 sec)
1987 28 construction workers killed in an apt collapse in Bridgeport, Connecticut
1988 A Greek pedals self-powered aircraft, 74 miles
1988 Federal smoking ban during domestic airline flights of 2 hrs or less
1988 Karolina Szabo runs female world record 25k (1:29:30)/30k (1:47;06)
1989 Students in Beijing China announce class boycotts
1989 CBS' premiere of fact based "The Littlest Victims", based on Newark, N.J. physician James Oleske as the first doctor to discover AIDS in children
1989 Wine merchant William Sokolin breaks a bottle of 1787 Château Margaux, possibly belonging to Thomas Jefferson, worth $500,000 at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York
1991 Björn Borg loses 6-2, 6-3 to Jordi Arrese after an 8 year lay off without practising or playing any exhibition matches
1991 Gordon Greenidge scores 223 v Aus, his last Test Cricket knock at home
1991 USSR grants republics right to secede under certain conditions
1992 "Shirnada" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 4 performances
1992 Marion Berry (former mayor of Washington, D.C.) let out of prison
1992 McDonald's opens its 1st fast-food restaurant in China
1993 Eritrea votes to secede from Ethiopia
1993 Peter Townshend's musical "Tommy" premieres in NYC
1994 Army shoots to death 23-40 fishermen in Gonaives, Haiti
1994 General Tire World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Norm Duke
1995 President Clinton declares a national day of mourning for Oklahoma City
1996 Sotheby's begins 4 day auction of Jackie O stuff-take in $34.5 million
1996 49th British Film and Television Awards (BAFTAS): "Sense and Sensibility" Best Film, Michael Radford Best Director
1996 42nd British Academy Television Awards: "Father Ted" Best Comedy, "Cracker" Best Drama
1997 32nd Academy of Country Music Awards: Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, and Patty Loveless win
1997 Omaria massacre in Algeria: 42 villagers are killed.
2001 Fatboy Slim releases single "Weapon of Choice", music video directed by Spike Jonze starring Christopher Walken dancing
2002 Pope John Paul II meets with U.S. Catholic Church leaders at Vatican regarding sexual abuse of minors
2003 Beijing closes all schools for two weeks because of the SARS virus
2009 Gamma ray burst (GRB) 090423 is observed for 10 seconds, the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe
2011 Zach Daniels defeated Rick Michaels to become the new TNT Heavyweight Champion.
2012 Netherlands Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, tenders resignation, paving the way for early elections
2012 Rangers F.C. owner, Craig Whyte, is banned for life from any involvement in Scottish football
2012 38,000 London Marathon entrants have their home and email contacts published in a data protection breach
2013 28 people are killed and 70 are injured during clashes between police and Sunni Muslims in Hawija, Iraq
2013 21 people are killed during violent unrest in Xinjiang, China
2013 A 1% flash crash hits the US stock market after a news agency was hacked and claimed injury to President Obama
2013 The French National Assembly passes an amended bill legalizing same-sex marriage
2013 West Indian cricketer, Chris Gayle, smashes the fastest century in history (30 balls)
2013 "Star Trek Into Darkness" directed by J. J. Abrams starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto premieres in Sydney
2014 60 people are killed & 80 are injured after a train crashes in The Democratic Republic of the Congo
2015 Loretta Lynch is confirmed as the first African-American woman as US Attorney-General, succeeding Eric Holder
2016 Beyoncé releases her 6th album "Lemonade" with a 1 hour film on HBO
2018 Marvel's "Avengers: Infinity War" directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr and large ensemble cast premieres in Los Angeles
2018 Van deliberately driven into pedestrians in Toronto, Canada, killing 10 and injuring 13
2018 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan resigns after 10 years in office after mass protests against him beginning an unconstitutional third term
2018 Mario Abdo Benítez is elected President of Paraguay
2019 At least 54 jade miners buried by a mudslide in Kachin state, Myanmar
2019 Southampton striker Shane Long scores fastest goal in English Premier League history when he nets after 7.69 seconds in 1-1 draw at Watford
2019 Second of two major earthquakes strikes island of Samar, Philippines, magnitude 6.3, a day after magnitude 6.1 hits Luzon Island killing at least 16 people
2019 World's first malaria vaccine, giving partial protection to children, begins in Malawi by the WHO
2020 First findings of a frog fossil 40 million years old, found on Seymour Island, Antarctica (2015) published in "Scientific Reports"
2020 Ecuador's COVID-19 death toll is then one of world's highest per capita after 7,600 more deaths than usual (503 official toll), in report by "The New York Times"
2020 German Chancellor Angela Merkel warns this is "not the end phase but still just the beginning" of the COVID-19 pandemic
2020 US President Donald Trump suggests COVID-19 might be treated by injecting disinfectant or UV lights into a human body at a White House press briefing. Government officials and disinfectant companies quickly state doing so is not only extremely dangerous but potentially deadly.