April 7
day of the year
April 7 is the 97th day of the year (98th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 268 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
changeUp to 1900
change- 451 - Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.
- 1141 - Empress Matilda becomes the first female ruler of England.
- 1348 - Charles University is founded in Prague.
- 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the island of Cebu.
- 1655 - Fabio Chigi is elected to become Pope Alexander VII.
- 1767 - End of two-year Burmese-Siamese War.
- 1782 – Thailand became a country.
- 1788 - American pioneers to the Northwest Territory arrive at the meeting point of the Ohio River and Muskingum River, opening the westward expansion of the United States.
- 1789 - Selim III becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1798 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain.
- 1805 - Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his Third Symphony in Vienna.
- 1827 - John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.
- 1829 - Joseph Smith begins his translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.
- 1831 - Pedro I of Brazil resigns to become King of Portugal.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh ends in a Union victory.
- 1896 - Fridtjof Nansen reaches the point furthest North of any human being up until that point.
1901 – 1950
change- 1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts.
- 1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
- 1908 – H. H. Asquith becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1919 - The Federation Francais de Football is founded.
- 1927 - The first long-distance television broadcast is made from Washington, DC to New York City.
- 1933 - Prohibition in the United States is removed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight.
- 1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.
- 1940 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a US postage stamp.
- 1943 - Holocaust: In Trebovlia, Ukraine, Nazi troops order 1,100 Jews to undress to their underwear and march through the city to the village of Plebanivka, where they are shot dead.
- 1943 - Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the occupation by the Axis Powers.
- 1945 - World War II: Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed, is sunk by American planes 200 miles north of Okinawa while on the way to a suicide mission in Operation Ten-Go.
- 1946 – Syria's independence is recognised.
- 1948 – The United Nations created the World Health Organization.
- 1954 - Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "Domino Theory" speech during a news conference.
- 1955 – Anthony Eden replaced Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1956 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
- 1964 - IBM announces the System/360.
- 1967 - Roger Ebert publishes his first movie review in the Chicago Sun-Times.
- 1968 - Scottish racing driver Jim Clark is killed in a crash at Hockenheim, Germany, aged 32.
- 1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date.
- 1971 - Richard Nixon announces his decision to increase the rate of American troops withdrawals from Vietnam.
- 1977 – German federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback is shot dead, along with his driver, by two members of the Red Army Faction.
- 1978 - Development of the neutron bomb is cancelled by US President Jimmy Carter.
- 1980 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran.
- 1983 - During STS-6 mission, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle space walk.
- 1989 – Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea, killing 42 people.
- 1990 - A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry M/S Scandinavian Star, killing 198 people.
- 1992 – Republika Srpska declares independence.
- 1994 – The Rwandan Genocide begins. One of the first victims is Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.
- 1995 - First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
- 1999 - The World Trade Organization rules in favour of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
From 2001
change- 2001 – The Mars Odyssey space probe is launched.
- 2003 – US troops capture Baghdad.
- 2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
- 2010 – In Kyrgyzstan, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flees the capital city Bishkek, after days of fierce rioting. Roza Otunbayeva is installed as Head of Government.
- 2017 - 2017 Stockholm attack: A beer lorry is driven into people in central Stockholm, killing 5 people.
- 2018 - A vehicle is driven into people in the city centre of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, killing 2 people. The driver then kills himself.
Births
changeUp to 1850
change- 1506 - Francis Xavier, Spanish Roman Catholic missionary (d. 1552)
- 1539 - Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter (d. 1584)
- 1613 - Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
- 1629 - John of Austria the Younger, Spanish military leader and statesman (d. 1679)
- 1648 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (d. 1721)
- 1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
- 1713 - Nicola Sala, Italian composer and music theorist (d. 1801)
- 1718 - Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and writer (d. 1800)
- 1742 - Gunning Bedford, Sr., Governor of Delaware (d. 1797)
- 1763 - Domenico Dragonetti, Italian double-bass virtuoso and composer (d. 1846)
- 1767 - Henry Bell, Scottish engineer (d. 1830)
- 1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
- 1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
- 1786 - William R. King, 13th Vice President of the United States (d. 1853)
- 1803 - James Curtiss, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
- 1803 - Flora Tristan, French writer (d. 1884)
- 1811 - Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician and philosopher (d. 1881)
- 1839 - Ida Ferenczy, Hungarian Lady-in-waiting to Elisabeth of Bavaria (d. 1928)
- 1847 – Jens Peder Jacobsen, Danish writer (d. 1885)
- 1848 - Randall Davidson, 1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)
1851 – 1900
change- 1853 – Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (d. 1884)
- 1857 - Nazrullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (d. 1920)
- 1859 - Walter Camp, American football player, coach and writer (d. 1925)
- 1860 - Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman and food manufacturer (d. 1951)
- 1867 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (d. 1953)
- 1868 - José de Castro, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1929)
- 1870 – Gustav Landauer, German anarchist and revolutionary (d. 1919)
- 1871 - Epifanio de los Santos, Filipino jurist, historian and scholar (d. 1927)
- 1872 - William Monroe Trotter, American newspaper editor (d. 1934)
- 1873 - John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
- 1874 - Frederick Carl Frieseke, German-American painter (d. 1939)
- 1876 - Fay Moulton, American sprinter, football player, coach and lawyer (d. 1945)
- 1882 – Kurt von Schleicher, German military officer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)
- 1883 – Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966)
- 1884 - Clement Smoot, American golfer (d. 1963)
- 1886 - Emilio Pujols, Catalan guitarist and composer (d. 1980)
- 1887 - Joseph Stadler, American jumper (d. 1950)
- 1889 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer (d. 1945)
- 1890 - Paul Berth, Danish footballer (d. 1969)
- 1890 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and activist (d. 1998)
- 1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor, of Lego (d. 1958)
- 1893 - Allen Dulles, American CIA director (d. 1969)
- 1896 - Frits Peutz, Dutch architect (d. 1974)
- 1897 - Walter Winchell, American broadcaster and journalist (d. 1972)
- 1899 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
- 1900 - Jebbs Lloyd Johnson, English race walker (d. 1984)
1901 – 1950
change- 1907 - Le Duan, Vietnamese politician (d. 1986)
- 1907 - John Burroughs, Governor of New Mexico (d. 1978)
- 1908 - Percy Faith, Canadian composer, conductor and bandleader (d. 1976)
- 1911 - Hervé Bazin, French writer (d. 1996)
- 1913 - Louise Currie, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1913 - Charles Vanik, American politician (d. 2007)
- 1914 - Charles Flanagan, American bandleader, conductor, pianist, composer and arranger (d. 1995)
- 1915 – Stanley Adams, American actor (d. 1977)
- 1915 – Billie Holiday, American jazz singer (d. 1959)
- 1915 - Henry Kuttner, American writer (d. 1977)
- 1916 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1917 - R. G. Armstrong, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1918 - Bobby Doerr, American baseball player and coach
- 1919 - Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (d. 2009)
- 1927 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer, educator and activist (d. 2003)
- 1927 - Leonid Shcherbakov, Russian high jumper
- 1928 – James Garner, American actor (d. 2014)
- 1928 - James White, Northern Irish writer (d. 1999)
- 1928 - Alan J. Pakula, American movie maker (d. 1998)
- 1929 – Bob Denard, French mercenary (d. 2007)
- 1930 – Andrew Sachs, German-born British actor
- 1930 - Cliff Morgan, Welsh rugby player (d. 2013)
- 1930 - Roger Vergé, French chef and restaurateur (d. 2015)
- 1930 - Vilma Espin, Cuban revolutionary and politician (d. 2007)
- 1931 - Donald Barthelme, American writer (d. 1989)
- 1931 - Ted Kotcheff, Canadian director
- 1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (d. 2007)
- 1937 - Cynthia Lynn, Latvian-American actress (d. 2014)
- 1938 – Jerry Brown, American politician, former Governor of California
- 1938 – Freddie Hubbard, American jazz musician (d. 2008)
- 1938 - Spencer Dryden, American drummer (d. 2005)
- 1938 - Justin Lekhanya, former Prime Minister of Lesotho
- 1939 – David Frost, British broadcaster (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American movie director
- 1941 – Gorden Kaye, British actor (d. 2017)
- 1943 - Mick Abrahams, English guitarist (Jethro Tull)
- 1944 - Makoto Kobayashi, Japanese physicist
- 1944 – Gerhard Schröder, former Chancellor of Germany
- 1944 - Bill Stoneman, American baseball player and manager
- 1945 - Megas, Icelandic singer-songwriter
- 1945 – Werner Schroeter, German movie movie director (d. 2010)
- 1945 - Robert S. Wistrich, Kazakh-born British-Israeli professor (d. 2015)
- 1946 - Colette Besson, French sprinter (d. 2005)
- 1946 - Stan Winston, American special effects expert (d. 2008)
- 1947 – Florian Schneider, German musician (Kraftwerk)
- 1947 - Patricia Bennett, American singer
- 1948 – Pietro Anastasi, Italian footballer
- 1949 - Valentina Matviyenko, Russian politician
- 1949 – Mitch Daniels, American politician, Governor of Indiana
- 1949 - Wells Kelly, American singer-songwriter and musician (Orleans) (d. 1984)
1951 – 1975
change- 1951 – Janis Ian, American singer and songwriter
- 1952 - Clarke Peters, American actor and singer
- 1954 – Jackie Chan, Chinese (Hong Kong) actor
- 1955 - Tim Cochran, American mathematician (d. 2014)
- 1955 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
- 1960 - Buster Douglas, American boxer
- 1961 – Luigi De Agostini, Italian footballer
- 1962 – Ram Gopal Varma, Indian director, producer and screenwriter
- 1962 - Jon Cruddas, English politician
- 1963 - Jaime de Marichalar, Spanish nobleman
- 1963 - Nick Herbert, English politician
- 1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-Australian actor
- 1965 – Alison Lapper, British artist
- 1965 - Bill Bellamy, American comedian and actor
- 1966 - Gary Wilkinson, British snooker player
- 1967 - Bodo Illgner, German footballer
- 1968 – Jennifer Lynch, American director
- 1968 - Vasiliy Sokov, Russian triple jumper
- 1970 - Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist
- 1971 – Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (d. 2008)
- 1971 – Victor Kraatz, Canadian figure skater
- 1971 - Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, American journalist and actress
- 1972 - Tim Peake, English astronaut
- 1973 - Marco Delvecchio, Italian footballer
- 1973 - Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Dutch politician
- 1975 - Karin Dreijer Andersson, Swedish singer
From 1976
change- 1976 - Kevin Alejandro, American actor
- 1977 - Jenni Haukio, Finnish writer and First Lady of Finland
- 1979 – Pascal Dupuis, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Duncan James, British singer
- 1979 - Danny Sandoval, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1980 - Dragan Bogavac, Montenegrin footballer
- 1980 – Carl Fletcher, Welsh footballer
- 1981 - Kelli Young, English singer (Liberty X)
- 1982 - Silvana Arias, Peruvian actress
- 1983 - Franck Ribéry, French footballer
- 1983 - Jon Stead, English footballer
- 1985 - Humza Yousaf, Scottish politician
- 1986 - Christian Fuchs, Austrian footballer
- 1987 - Martín Cáceres, Uruguayan footballer
- 1989 - Alexa Demara, American actress, model, writer and martial artist
- 1989 – Franco Di Santo, Argentine footballer
- 1989 - Sylwia Grzeszczak, Polish singer
- 1989 - Yulia Samoylova, Russian singer
- 1991 - Anne-Marie, English singer and songwriter
- 1992 - William Carvalho, Angolan-born Portuguese footballer
- 1992 – Alexis Jordan, American singer
- 1992 - Jessica Sara, American actress
- 1993 - Irina Shtork, Estonian ice dancer
- 1994 - Johanna Allik, Estonian figure skater
- 1997 - Oliver Burke, Scottish footballer
Deaths
changeUp to 1900
change- 924 - Berengar I of Italy (b. 845)
- 1498 – King Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
- 1614 – El Greco, Greek-born Spanish painter (b. 1541)
- 1638 - Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese ruler of Satsuma (b. 1576)
- 1651 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish Governor-General (b. 1603)
- 1658 - Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic (b. 1595)
- 1719 - Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French saint (b. 1651)
- 1739 – Dick Turpin, English outlaw (b. 1705)
- 1762 – Pietro Guarneri, Italian violin maker (b. 1695)
- 1789 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1725)
- 1789 - Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (b. 1722)
- 1801 - Noel Francois de Wailly, French lexicographer (b. 1724)
- 1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian revolutionary (b. 1743)
- 1811 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (b. 1757)
- 1823 - Jacques Charles, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1746)
- 1833 – Antoni Radziwill, Polish politician (b. 1775)
- 1836 - William Godwin, English journalist and writer (b. 1756)
- 1849 - Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentine priest and politician (b. 1777)
- 1868 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Canadian journalist and Father of the Confederation (b. 1825)
- 1871 - Alexander Loyd, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
- 1885 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (b. 1804)
- 1889 - Youssef Karam, Lebanese nationalist leader (b. 1823)
- 1891 – P. T. Barnum, American circus impresario (b. 1810)
- 1900 - Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (b. 1826)
1901 – 2000
change- 1914 - Mohammad Ayub Khan, interim regent of Afghanistan (b. 1857)
- 1917 - Spyridon Samaras, Greek composer (b. 1861)
- 1918 - David Kolehmainen, Finnish wrestler (b. 1885)
- 1920 - Karl Binding, German jurist (b. 1841)
- 1928 - Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher (b. 1873)
- 1930 - Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo, 4th Governor of New Mexico (b. 1859)
- 1932 - Grigore Constantinescu, Romanian priest and journalist (b. 1875)
- 1934 - William Monroe Trotter, American newspaper editor (b. 1872)
- 1938 - Suzanne Valadon, French painter (b. 1865)
- 1939 – Joseph Lyons, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
- 1943 – Alexandre Millerand, President of France (b. 1859)
- 1944 - Johann Gruber, Austrian priest (b. 1889)
- 1947 – Henry Ford, American business person (b. 1863)
- 1950 – Walter Huston, Canadian-born actor (b. 1884)
- 1955 - Theda Bara, American actress (b. 1885)
- 1956 - Fred Appleby, English long-distance runner (b. 1879)
- 1957 - John Hart, Irish-Canadian politician, Premier of British Columbia (b. 1879)
- 1960 - Henri Guisan, Swiss army officer (b. 1874)
- 1965 - Roger Leger, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
- 1966 - Fred G. Aandahl, American politician, Governor of North Dakota (b. 1897)
- 1968 – Jim Clark, Scottish racing driver (b. 1936)
- 1972 – Abeid Karume, President of Zanzibar (b. 1905)
- 1977 – Siegfried Buback, German federal prosecutor (b. 1920)
- 1981 - Norman Taurog, American movie director (b. 1899)
- 1982 – Harald Ertl, Austrian racing driver (b. 1948)
- 1984 - Frank Church, American politician (b. 1924)
- 1985 - Carl Schmitt, German philosopher and theorist (b. 1888)
- 1986 - Leonid Kantorovich, Soviet-Russian mathematician and economist (b. 1912)
- 1990 - Ronald Evans, American astronaut (b. 1933)
- 1992 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1903)
- 1994 – Albert Gudmundsson, Icelandic footballer and politician (b. 1923)
- 1994 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
- 1994 - Golo Mann, German historian (b. 1909)
- 1997 - Georgi Shonin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1935)
- 1997 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese movie producer (b. 1910)
- 2000 - Moacir Barbosa Nascimento, Brazilian footballer (b. 1921)
From 2001
change- 2003 - David Greene, British director (b. 1921)
- 2004 - Victor Argo, American actor (b. 1934)
- 2005 - Cliff Allison, Britsh racing driver (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2008 - Mark Speight, English television presenter (b. 1965)
- 2009 – Dave Arneson, American creator of the game Dungeons and Dragons (b. 1947)
- 2010 – Christopher Cazenove, British actor (b. 1945)
- 2012 - Mike Wallace, American journalist (b. 1918)
- 2012 - Ignatius Moses I Daoud, Syrian Catholic patriarch (b. 1930)
- 2013 - Lilly Pulitzer, American socialite and fashion designer (b. 1931)
- 2013 - Les Blank, American director and producer (b. 1935)
- 2014 - George Dureau, American artist (b. 1930)
- 2014 - Frans van der Lugt, Dutch priest (b. 1938)
- 2014 - Josep Maria Subirachs, Catalan sculptor and painter (b. 1927)
- 2014 - John Shirley-Quirk, English opera singer (b. 1931)
- 2014 - Peaches Geldof, English model and television host (b. 1989)
- 2014 - Zeituni Onyango, Kenyan-American computer programmer (b. 1952)
- 2014 - George Shuffler, American musician (b. 1925)
- 2015 - Jean Germain, French politician, Mayor of Tours (b. 1947)
- 2015 - Richard Henyekane, South African footballer (b. 1983)
- 2015 - Kardam, Prince of Turnovo, Bulgarian-Spanish nobleman (b. 1962)
- 2015 - Stan Freberg, American writer, actor and comedian (b. 1926)
- 2015 - Tim Babcock, American politician, Governor of Montana (b. 1919)
- 2015 - Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (b. 1935)
- 2015 - James B. Rhoads, American public servant (b. 1928)
- 2016 - Frank E. Denholm, American politician (b. 1923)
- 2016 - Carlo Monti, Italian athlete (b. 1920)
- 2017 - Marthe Gosteli, Swiss women's rights activist (b. 1917)
- 2017 - Peter Isaacson, Australian media publisher (b. 1920)
- 2017 - Christopher Morahan, English stage and television director (b. 1929)
- 2017 - Glenn O'Brien, American journalist, editor and television presenter (b. 1947)
- 2017 - Tim Pigott-Smith, English actor (b. 1946)
- 2018 - Petr Braiko, Soviet-Russian World War II soldier (b. 1919)
- 2018 - Peter Grünberg, German physicist (b. 1939)
- 2019 - Hugo Ballesteros Reyes, Chilean politician and diplomat (b. 1931)
- 2019 - Michael E. Busch, American politician (b. 1947)
- 2019 - Seymour Cassel, American actor (b. 1935)
- 2019 - Cho Yang-ho, South Korean businessman (b. 1949)
- 2019 - Arie Irawan, Malaysian golfer (b. 1990)
- 2019 - Mya-Lecia Naylor, English actress (b. 2002)