History of Today in India – 15 April

Explore the history of today 15 April in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 15 April 2026, 04:21 AM

📜 Important Events on 15 April in World History

• 15 Apr 2021: A mass shooting occurs at a Fedex Ground facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, killing nine and injuring seven. Read more
• 15 Apr 2019: The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire. Read more
• 15 Apr 2014: In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, more than 400 civilians are gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals. Read more
• 15 Apr 2013: Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring over 500 others. Read more
• 15 Apr 2013: A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people. Read more
• 15 Apr 2002: Air China Flight 129 crashes on approach to Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, killing 129 people. Read more
• 15 Apr 1994: Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted. Read more
• 15 Apr 1989: Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans. Read more
• 15 Apr 1989: Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China. Read more
• 15 Apr 1986: The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen. Read more
• 15 Apr 1970: During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam. Read more
• 15 Apr 1969: The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board. Read more
• 15 Apr 1960: At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Read more
• 15 Apr 1955: McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois. Read more
• 15 Apr 1952: First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Read more
• 15 Apr 1947: Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line. Read more
• 15 Apr 1945: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated. Read more
• 15 Apr 1942: The George Cross is awarded "to the island fortress of Malta" by King George VI. Read more
• 15 Apr 1941: In the Belfast Blitz, 200 bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing some 1,000 people. Read more
• 15 Apr 1936: First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine. Read more
• 15 Apr 1923: Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes. Read more
• 15 Apr 1923: Racially motivated Nihon Shōgakkō fire lit by a serial arsonist kills 10 children in Sacramento, California. Read more
• 15 Apr 1922: U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal. Read more
• 15 Apr 1920: Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,224 passengers and crew on board survive. Read more
• 15 Apr 1900: Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines. Read more
• 15 Apr 1896: Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece. Read more
• 15 Apr 1892: The General Electric Company is formed. Read more
• 15 Apr 1865: President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Three hours later, Vice President Andrew Johnson is sworn in as president. Read more
• 15 Apr 1861: President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 militiamen to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War. Read more
• 15 Apr 1817: Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc found the American School for the Deaf (then called the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons), the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 15 April in World History

• 15 Apr 2006: Izan Merino, Spanish footballer Izan Merino Rodríguez is a Spanish footballer who plays for Segunda División club Málaga CF. Mainly a defensive midfielder, he can also play as a centre-back. Read more
• 15 Apr 2003: Matías Soulé, Argentine footballer Matías Soulé Malvano is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, right winger or forward for Serie A club Roma. Read more
• 15 Apr 2001: Shanti Dope, Filipino rapper Sean Patrick Ramos, known professionally as Shanti Dope, is a Filipino rapper, singer and songwriter. He is known for his songs "Nadarang", "Shantidope", "MAU", and "Amatz". Read more
• 15 Apr 1999: Denis Shapovalov, Canadian tennis player Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 10 in singles by the ATP, achieved on September 21, 2020 and a doubles ranking of No. 44, achieved on February 24, 2020. He has won four ATP Tour singles titles and produced his best Grand Slam performance at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, where he reached the semifinals. Shapovalov is the third highest-ranked Canadian singles male player in history behind Milos Raonic and Félix Auger-Aliassime. Read more
• 15 Apr 1998: Sexyy Red, American rapper Janae Nierah Wherry, known professionally as Sexyy Red, is an American rapper. She rose to prominence with the release of her 2023 single "Pound Town" ; its popularity spawned the remixed sequel "Pound Town 2", her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. Her follow-up single, "SkeeYee", was met with similar success; both songs were included on her second mixtape, Hood Hottest Princess (2023). Billboard declared Wherry as "one of the biggest breakout artists of summer 2023." Read more
• 15 Apr 1997: Ashleigh Gardner, Australian cricketer Ashleigh Katherine Gardner is an Australian cricketer who currently plays for the national women's team as an all-rounder. A right-handed batter and right-arm off spinner, Gardner also plays for New South Wales in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL), for the Sydney Sixers in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and for the Gujarat Giants in the Women's Premier League (WPL). She has won three world championships and four national titles with her respective teams, while also gaining numerous individual honours, including the Belinda Clark Award. Read more
• 15 Apr 1997: Sam Hughes, English footballer Samuel Joseph Hughes is an English footballer who plays as a defender for EFL League One side Peterborough United. Read more
• 15 Apr 1997: Maisie Williams, English actress Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams is an English actress. Williams made her acting debut in 2011 as Arya Stark, a lead character in the HBO epic medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019). She gained recognition and critical praise for her work on the show and received two Emmy Award nominations. Williams' other television appearances include Ashildr in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2015), starring in the British docudrama television film Cyberbully (2015), and in the British science-fiction teen thriller film iBoy (2017). She played the central character in the comedy action drama miniseries Two Weeks to Live (2020), and portrayed punk rock icon Jordan in Pistol (2022), a biopic about the Sex Pistols. Williams also voiced Cammie MacCloud in the American animated web series Gen:Lock (2019–2021). Read more
• 15 Apr 1995: Leander Dendoncker, Belgian footballer Leander Dendoncker is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for La Liga club Real Oviedo. Read more
• 15 Apr 1994: Brodie Grundy, Australian rules football player Brodie Grundy is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was previously an All-Australian and best-and-fairest winner with Collingwood, having been selected with the 18th draft pick in the 2012 AFL draft, as well as a player for Melbourne. Read more
• 15 Apr 1994: Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamian sprinter Shaunae Miller-Uibo, née Shaunae Miller, is a Bahamian track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. She is a two-time Olympic champion after winning the women's 400 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics and again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Read more
• 15 Apr 1993: Felipe Anderson, Brazilian footballer Felipe Anderson Pereira Gomes, known as Felipe Anderson, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, winger or forward for Brasileiro Série A club Palmeiras. He has previously played for Santos, West Ham United, Porto, and Lazio. He was capped by the Brazil national team twice. Read more
• 15 Apr 1992: Remo Freuler, Swiss footballer Remo Marco Freuler is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Bologna and the Switzerland national team. Read more
• 15 Apr 1992: John Guidetti, Swedish footballer John Alberto Guidetti is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Rinkeby United. Read more
• 15 Apr 1992: Jeremy McGovern, Australian rules football player Jeremy Ronald McGovern is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a tall key-position player who spent most of his career as a defender, although he occasionally played forward. Read more
• 15 Apr 1991: Daiki Arioka, Japanese idol, singer, and actor Daiki Arioka is a Japanese singer, actor, tarento, and model as well as member of Hey! Say! JUMP. He is under the management of Starto Entertainment. Read more
• 15 Apr 1991: Javier Fernández López, Spanish figure skater Javier Fernández López is a Spanish former figure skater. He is the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World champion, a two-time World bronze medalist, a seven-time European champion (2013–2019), a two-time Grand Prix Final silver medalist, and an eight-time Spanish national champion. Read more
• 15 Apr 1990: Emma Watson, English actress Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is an English actress. In the 2010s, she was ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses by Forbes and Vanity Fair, and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2015. Read more
• 15 Apr 1989: Darren Nicholls, Australian rugby league player Darren Nicholls is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played as a halfback for the Brisbane Tigers in the Queensland Cup. He previously played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL. Read more
• 15 Apr 1988: Blake Ayshford, Australian rugby league player Blake Ayshford is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre in the 2000s and 2010s. Read more
• 15 Apr 1988: Steven Defour, Belgian footballer Steven Arnold Defour is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently a manager. Read more
• 15 Apr 1988: Chris Tillman, American baseball pitcher Christopher Steven Tillman is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 2009, and played with them until 2018. He was named an All-Star in 2013. Read more
• 15 Apr 1986: Tom Heaton, English footballer Thomas David Heaton is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Manchester United. Read more
• 15 Apr 1986: Sylvain Marveaux, French footballer Sylvain Marveaux is a French former professional footballer. He played a variety of positions in midfield, but was mostly utilized as a right-sided midfielder or an attacking midfielder or as a forward. He is the younger brother of Joris Marveaux, who currently plays for Gazélec Ajaccio. Read more
• 15 Apr 1985: Ryan Hamilton, Canadian ice hockey player Ryan Hamilton is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers. He spent his last three professional seasons Captaining the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League (AHL). Read more
• 15 Apr 1984: Antonio Cromartie, American football player Antonio Cromartie Sr. is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons. He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles and was selected in the first round by the San Diego Chargers in the 2006 NFL draft. He was selected to four Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro in 2007 after leading the league in interceptions. He also played for the Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts. Cromartie holds the record for the longest scoring play in NFL history after returning a missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown in 2007. After his playing career, he was a graduate assistant for the Texas A&M Aggies. Read more
• 15 Apr 1984: Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player Cameron Wesley Janssen is an American former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues. He was selected by the New Jersey Devils 117th overall in the fourth round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Janssen was widely regarded as one of the toughest enforcers in the league throughout his low-scoring tenure. Read more
• 15 Apr 1984: Daniel Paille, Canadian ice hockey player Daniel Joseph Paille is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. He was originally drafted 20th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2002 NHL entry draft and also played in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. Read more
• 15 Apr 1983: Alice Braga, Brazilian actress Alice Braga Moraes is a Brazilian actress and producer. She gained international recognition for her role as Anna Montez in the American science fiction film I Am Legend (2007), opposite Will Smith. Braga has since built a successful career in Hollywood, appearing in films such as Blindness (2008), Predators (2010), Elysium (2013), and The Suicide Squad (2021). From 2016 to 2021, she starred as Teresa Mendoza in the American television series Queen of the South. In addition to her acting career, she has worked as a producer and remains an influential figure in both Brazilian and international cinema. In 2024, she starred in the Apple TV+ science fiction series Dark Matter. Read more
• 15 Apr 1983: Matt Cardle, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Matthew Sheridan Cardle is an English singer. He was born in Southampton and grew up in Halstead, Essex. Cardle has been involved in music since his early teens and has been a member of two different bands; Darwyn and Seven Summers. Cardle rose to fame after winning the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010, and received a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music and later signed a deal with Columbia Records. Read more
• 15 Apr 1983: Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer Alexandro Silva de Sousa, known as Dudu Cearense or simply Dudu, is a Brazilian former professional footballer. Read more
• 15 Apr 1983: Andreas Fransson, Swedish skier (died 2014) Andreas Fransson was a Swedish extreme skier perhaps best known for having made descents of the hitherto un-skied specific faces of mountains. Among his inaugural descents was that of the south face of Denali in Alaska during the spring of 2011. Read more
• 15 Apr 1983: Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchuk is a Russian former professional ice hockey winger. He played for the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as Ak Bars Kazan, Khimik Moscow Oblast, SKA Saint Petersburg, Avangard Omsk, and Spartak Moscow in the Russian Superleague (RSL) and Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Read more
• 15 Apr 1983: Martin Pedersen, Danish cyclist Martin Pedersen is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer. He rode with Team PH in 2004, and after a great 2005 season with many wins for the small, talent producing Team GLS, he signed his first professional contract with Team CSC for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. He retired after the 2013 season. Read more
• 15 Apr 1982: Michael Aubrey, American baseball player Robert Michael Aubrey is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles. Read more
• 15 Apr 1982: Anthony Green, American singer-songwriter Anthony Green is an American singer from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He is currently the lead singer of Circa Survive, the Sound of Animals Fighting, and L.S. Dunes, while also maintaining a solo career. He was previously in the bands Saosin, Audience of One, Jeer at Rome, High and Driving, and Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer. Read more
• 15 Apr 1982: Albert Riera, Spanish footballer and manager Albert Riera Ortega is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt. Read more
• 15 Apr 1982: Seth Rogen, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Seth Aaron Rogen is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known primarily for his comedic leading man roles in films and on television, he has often collaborated with his writing partner, Evan Goldberg, and filmmaker and producer Judd Apatow. Rogen has received various accolades including four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Actor Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Producers Guild of America Award, a Writers Guild of America Award, and a Directors Guild of America Award. Read more
• 15 Apr 1981: Andrés D'Alessandro, Argentinian footballer Andrés Nicolás D'Alessandro is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He has played top-flight football in Argentina, Germany, England, Spain, Brazil and Uruguay. Read more
• 15 Apr 1980: Patrick Carney, American drummer, musician, and producer Patrick James Carney is an American musician and producer best known as the drummer of the Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. Read more
• 15 Apr 1980: James Foster, English cricketer James Savin Foster is an English cricket coach and former cricketer. A wicket-keeper who played seven Tests and 11 One Day Internationals in 2001–02 and 2002–03. Read more
• 15 Apr 1980: Raül López, Spanish basketball player Raül López Molist is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He played for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). López is a native of Vic, Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. At a height of 6 ft 0 in tall, he played at the point guard position. López was featured on the Spanish version of the NBA Live 2004 video game. Read more
• 15 Apr 1980: Willie Mason, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player William Marshall Mason, also nicknamed "Big Willie", is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australia and Tonga international and New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played in the National Rugby League for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, the Sydney Roosters, the North Queensland Cowboys, the Newcastle Knights and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Mason also played in the Super League for English club Hull Kingston Rovers and French club, the Catalans Dragons. He also played rugby union in the Top 14 for French club RC Toulonnais. During his career Mason was involved in a number of controversial off-field incidents which have received media publicity due to his high profile in the NRL. Read more
• 15 Apr 1980: Billy Yates, American football player William LaQuayne Yates is an American football coach and former offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas A&M and was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2003. Read more
• 15 Apr 1979: Luke Evans, Welsh actor and singer Luke George Evans is a Welsh actor and singer. He began his career on the stage, and performed in London's West End productions of Rent, Miss Saigon, and Piaf before making his film breakthrough in the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans. Following his debut, Evans was cast in the action and thriller films Immortals (2011), The Raven (2012), and the reimagined The Three Musketeers (2011), and the 2026 production of The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway. Read more
• 15 Apr 1978: Milton Bradley, American baseball player Milton Obelle Bradley Jr. is an American former professional baseball player. Standing 6 feet (1.8 m) and weighing 215 pounds (98 kg), Bradley was an outfielder and a switch hitter who threw right-handed. During an 11-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), Bradley played with the Montreal Expos (2000–01), Cleveland Indians (2001–03), Los Angeles Dodgers (2004–05), Oakland Athletics (2006–07), San Diego Padres (2007), Texas Rangers (2008), Chicago Cubs (2009), and Seattle Mariners (2010–11). His career was also marred by legal troubles and several notable on-field incidents. Read more
• 15 Apr 1978: Tim Corcoran, American baseball player Timothy Hugh Corcoran is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Corcoran's brother, Roy Corcoran, also played professional baseball Read more
• 15 Apr 1978: Luis Fonsi, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and dancer Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero, known by his stage name Luis Fonsi, is a Puerto Rican singer. He is known for his soulful and dance oriented songs, most notably 2017's "Despacito". Read more
• 15 Apr 1978: Chris Stapleton, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist Christopher Alvin Stapleton is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born in Kentucky, he moved to Nashville in 1996 to study for an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University, but dropped out to pursue a career in music. Shortly after, Stapleton signed a contract with Sea Gayle Music to write and publish his music. Read more
• 15 Apr 1977: Sudarsan Pattnaik, Indian sculptor Sudarsan Pattnaik is an Indian sand artist from Puri, Odisha. In 2014, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, for his seashore sand arts. Read more
• 15 Apr 1977: Brian Pothier, American ice hockey player Brian Pothier is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. Pothier played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2000 until 2010. Read more
• 15 Apr 1976: Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Jason M. Bonsignore is an American former professional ice hockey forward and speedway promoter and racer. Read more
• 15 Apr 1976: Darius Regelskis, Lithuanian footballer Darius Regelskis is a Lithuanian professional footballer. He was playing the position of defender and is 1.78 m tall and weighs 71 kg. Regelskis spent the prime years of his career playing for FBK Kaunas. He is a former member of the Lithuania national football team. Read more
• 15 Apr 1976: Kęstutis Šeštokas, Lithuanian basketball player Kęstutis Šeštokas is a Lithuanian professional basketball player, who plays at the power forward position. He last played for Molėtai Ežerūnas-Karys basketball team. He is the only player who has won the domestic leagues of all three Baltic states. His major trophies include the Euroleague title in 1999, the ULEB Cup title in 2005 and the Saporta Cup in 1998 as well as many regional and domestic titles. Read more
• 15 Apr 1976: Steve Williams, English rower Stephen David Williams is an English rower and double Olympic champion. In April and May 2011, Williams walked to the North Pole and achieved the summit of Mount Everest. Read more
• 15 Apr 1975: Sarah Teichmann, German-American biophysicist and immunologist Sarah Amalia Teichmann is a German scientist, the former head of cellular genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and a visiting research group leader at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). She serves as director of research in the Cavendish Laboratory, Professor at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, and is a senior research fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. Read more
• 15 Apr 1974: Kim Min-kyo, South Korean actor and director Kim Min-kyo is a South Korean actor and director. He is well known as a cast member ('crew') on the tvN entertainment show Saturday Night Live Korea. Read more
• 15 Apr 1974: Danny Pino, American actor and screenwriter Daniel Gonzalo Pino is an American actor who starred as Detective Scotty Valens on the CBS series Cold Case from 2003 to 2010, and as NYPD Detective Nick Amaro in the long-running NBC crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2011 to 2015. In 2002, he appeared in London's West End in Up for Grabs with Madonna. In May 2003, Pino played Desi Arnaz in a CBS special on the life of Lucille Ball, Lucy. He played drug cartel leader Miguel Galindo on Mayans M.C. which airs on FX, and FBI agent John Bishop in procedural crime drama Gone. Read more
• 15 Apr 1974: Mike Quinn, American football player Michael Patrick Quinn is an American former professional football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, and Denver Broncos. He also was a member of the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe, and the Montreal Alouettes and Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Stephen F. Austin State University. Read more
• 15 Apr 1974: Douglas Spain, American actor, director, and producer Douglas Spain is an American film and television actor, director and producer. In 1998 Spain was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Debut Performance for his role in the film Star Maps. In 1999 he won the Rising Star Award at the Marco Island Film Festival for The Last Best Sunday and in 2006 he won the Camie award at the Character and Morality in Entertainment Awards for his part in The Reading Room. He has since appeared in various features, including Permanent Midnight, But I'm a Cheerleader, A Time for Dancing, What's Cooking?, Cherry Falls, Delivering Milo and Still Green. Read more
• 15 Apr 1974: Tim Thomas, American ice hockey player Timothy James Thomas Jr. is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender who mainly played in the National Hockey League (NHL), most notably with the Boston Bruins. Read more
• 15 Apr 1972: Arturo Gatti, Italian-Canadian boxer (died 2009) Arturo Gatti was a Canadian professional boxer who competed from 1991 to 2007. Read more
• 15 Apr 1972: Lou Romano, American animator and voice actor Lou Romano is an American animator and voice actor. He did design work on Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles, and provided the voices of Bernie Kropp in The Incredibles, Snot Rod in Cars, and Alfredo Linguini in Ratatouille. Read more
• 15 Apr 1971: Philippe Carbonneau, French rugby player Philippe Carbonneau is a retired French rugby player. Read more
• 15 Apr 1971: Finidi George, Nigerian footballer Finidi George is a Nigerian professional football coach and former player who played as a winger. He is the current head coach of Nigerian Professional Football League club Rivers United. Read more
• 15 Apr 1971: Jason Sehorn, American football player Jason Heath Sehorn is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants from 1994 to 2002 and St. Louis Rams in 2003. He played college football for the USC Trojans. Read more
• 15 Apr 1971: Josia Thugwane, South African runner Josia Thugwane is a South African retired long-distance runner, best known for winning the gold medal in the marathon at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Thugwane, who is of Ndebele heritage, is the first black athlete to earn an Olympic gold for South Africa. Read more
• 15 Apr 1971: Karl Turner, English lawyer and politician Karl William Turner is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull East since 2010. He currently sits as an independent MP after he was suspended from the Labour Party on 31 March 2026. Read more
• 15 Apr 1970: Chris Huffins, American decathlete and coach Chris Huffins is an athlete from the United States who competed in the field of decathlon. He was the director and head coach of the men's and women's track and field and cross country programs at the University of California from 2002 to 2007. He married Monique Parker in 1997 with whom he had one son Zachary. He earned a degree from the University of California in political economies of industrial societies in 2007. Huffins is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He is currently married to Tamika Huffins with whom he had another son, Jaxon. Read more
• 15 Apr 1969: Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player Jeromy Neal Burnitz is an American former professional baseball player. Burnitz was a right fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the New York Mets, Cleveland Indians (1995–96), Milwaukee Brewers (1996–2001), Los Angeles Dodgers (2003), Colorado Rockies (2004), Chicago Cubs (2005), and Pittsburgh Pirates (2006). Read more
• 15 Apr 1969: Kaisa Roose, Estonian pianist and conductor Kaisa Roose was born in Tallinn, Estonia on 15 April 1969. At the age of six she began studying piano at the Tallinn School of Music.
  In 1987 she was admitted to the Tallinn Conservatoire, where she studied choir conducting, taking her degree in 1992. The following year Kaisa Roose was admitted to The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where she studied orchestra conducting. She completed the postgraduate soloist course in 1997 by giving her debut concert with the Danish Odense Symphony Orchestra. The same year Kaisa Roose was awarded the Grethe Kolbe Grant for promising young conductors. Read more
• 15 Apr 1969: Jimmy Waite, Canadian-German ice hockey player and coach James Dean Waite is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former goaltender. He currently serves as the goaltending coach for the Chicago Blackhawks. Read more
• 15 Apr 1968: Ben Clarke, English rugby player and coach Ben Clarke, is a former England back-row international rugby union player. Read more
• 15 Apr 1968: Brahim Lahlafi, Moroccan-French runner Brahim Lahlafi is a retired long-distance runner who represented Morocco during his active career. He acquired French citizenship on 6 April 2002, but represented Morocco again from 15 March 2007. Read more
• 15 Apr 1968: Ed O'Brien, English guitarist Edward John O'Brien is an English guitarist, songwriter, and member of the rock band Radiohead. O'Brien attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England, where he formed Radiohead with schoolmates. He said his role was to "service the songs" and support the songwriter, Thom Yorke. He creates ambient sounds and textures using effects, sustain units and the EBow, and provides backing vocals. Read more
• 15 Apr 1967: Frankie Poullain, Scottish bass player and songwriter Francis Gilles Poullain-Patterson, better known as Frankie Poullain, is a Scottish bass player, best known for playing with The Darkness. He was raised in Milnathort, then Edinburgh, Scotland. Read more
• 15 Apr 1967: Dara Torres, American swimmer and journalist Dara Grace Torres is an American former competitive swimmer, coach, and author who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events. Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games, and at age 41, the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won silver medals in all three events. Read more
• 15 Apr 1966: Samantha Fox, English singer-songwriter and actress Samantha Karen Fox is an English pop singer and former glamour model from Wood Green in North London. She has appeared on reality television shows and has occasionally worked as a television presenter and actress. Read more
• 15 Apr 1966: Mott Green, American businessman (died 2013) Mott Green was an American businessman and chocolatier, who founded the Grenada Chocolate Company in 1999. An edition of The Food Programme was devoted to Mott Green in June 2013. Read more
• 15 Apr 1965: Soichi Noguchi, Japanese engineer and astronaut Soichi Noguchi is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and former JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a mission specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first "return to flight" Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster. He was also in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and Expedition 22 to the International Space Station (ISS), returning to Earth on 2 June 2010. He is the sixth Japanese astronaut to fly in space, the fifth to fly on the Space Shuttle, and the first to fly on Crew Dragon. Read more
• 15 Apr 1965: Linda Perry, American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer Linda Perry is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. She is the lead singer and primary songwriter and guitarist of 4 Non Blondes, including their 1993 hit "What's Up?". She has since founded two record labels and composed and produced songs for other artists, which include: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera; "What You Waiting For?" by Gwen Stefani; and "Get the Party Started" by Pink. Perry also contributed to albums by Adele, Alicia Keys, and Courtney Love, as well as signing and distributing James Blunt in the United States. Perry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015. Read more
• 15 Apr 1965: Kevin Stevens, American ice hockey player Kevin Michael Stevens is an American former ice hockey player and current scout in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played left wing on a line with Mario Lemieux during the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992. During his career, he also played with the Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers. In 2017, Stevens was named Special Assignment Scout with the Penguins hockey organization. Read more
• 15 Apr 1964: Andre Joubert, South African rugby player André Johan Joubert is a former South African rugby union player, widely known as "The Rolls-Royce of Fullbacks" for his pace, class, and seemingly effortless style. He was capped 34 times at fullback for the Springboks in the 1990s, and amassed 115 test points from 10 tries, 17 penalties and 7 conversions. Read more
• 15 Apr 1964: Lee Kernaghan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist Lee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. Kernaghan has won four ARIA Awards and three APRA Awards, and has sold over two million albums, and as of 2021, has won 38 Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards of Australia. Read more
• 15 Apr 1963: Alex Crawford, Nigerian-South African journalist Alexandra Christine Crawford, is a British journalist who currently works as a Special Correspondent for Sky News based in Turkey. Read more
• 15 Apr 1963: Manzoor Elahi, Pakistani cricketer Manzoor Elahi is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer. Considered a hard-hitting batsman and a medium-pacer bowler, Elahi appeared in six Test matches and 54 One Day Internationals for Pakistan national cricket team from 1984 to 1995. Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan described him as "perhaps the hardest hitter of the cricket ball in the world." Read more
• 15 Apr 1963: Manoj Prabhakar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster Manoj Prabhakar is a former Indian cricketer and coach, who recently coached Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman, and also opened the innings a few times for the Indian cricket team. He was part of the Indian squad which won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket, 1984 Asia Cup, 1990–91 Asia Cup and 1995 Asia Cup. Read more
• 15 Apr 1962: Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan athlete and politician Nawal El Moutawakel is a Moroccan former hurdler, who won the inaugural women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and is the first Moroccan, Arab, African, and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold. She is currently a vice president of the International Olympic Committee. In August 2024, the International Sports Press Association voted her as the fourth best female athlete of the past 100 years after Serena Williams, Nadia Comăneci and Simone Biles. In 2007, El Moutawakel was named the Minister of Sports in the upcoming cabinet of Morocco. Read more
• 15 Apr 1962: Tom Kane, American voice actor Tom Kane is an American retired voice actor. He is known for his work in animation and video games, most notably the Star Wars franchise. Read more
• 15 Apr 1961: Neil Carmichael, English academic and politician William Neil Carmichael is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stroud from 2010 until 2017. In April 2019, he announced he had left the Conservative Party; he subsequently joined Change UK for which he was an unsuccessful candidate in the East of England constituency at the 2019 European Parliament election. In September 2019, Carmichael joined the Liberal Democrats but left after one year. Read more
• 15 Apr 1961: Carol W. Greider, American molecular biologist Carolyn Widney Greider is an American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate. She is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Read more
• 15 Apr 1961: Dawn Wright, American geographer and oceanographer Dawn Jeannine Wright is an American geographer and oceanographer. She is a leading authority in the application of geographic information system (GIS) technology to the field of ocean and coastal science and played a key role in creating the first GIS data model for the oceans. Wright is Chief Scientist of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri). She has also been a professor of geography and oceanography at Oregon State University since 1995 and is a former Oregon Professor of the Year as named by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Wright was the first Black female to dive to the ocean floor in the deep submersible ALVIN. On July 12, 2022, she became the first and only Black person to dive to Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth, and to successfully operate a side scan sonar at full-ocean depth. Read more
• 15 Apr 1960: Pierre Aubry, Canadian ice hockey player Pierre Aubry is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played five seasons in the National Hockey League for the Quebec Nordiques and Detroit Red Wings from 1980–81 to 1984–85. Read more
• 15 Apr 1960: Susanne Bier, Danish director and screenwriter Susanne Bier is a Danish filmmaker. Bier is the first female director to collectively receive an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a European Film Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Read more
• 15 Apr 1960: Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist and sportscaster Pedro Delgado Robledo, also known as Perico, is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989. He finished in the top 10 of eighteen Grand Tours. Read more
• 15 Apr 1960: Tony Jones, English snooker player Tony Jones is an English former professional snooker player from Nottinghamshire. Read more
• 15 Apr 1959: Fruit Chan, Chinese director, producer, and screenwriter Fruit Chan Gor is a Hong Kong filmmaker who is best known for his style of film reflecting the everyday life of Hong Kong people. He is well known for using amateur actors in his films. He became a household name after the success of the 1997 film Made in Hong Kong, which earned many local and international awards. Read more
• 15 Apr 1959: Kevin Lowe, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager Kevin Hugh Lowe is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive, former coach and former player. Lowe was the vice-chairman of Oilers Entertainment Group until his retirement on August 2, 2022, having formerly served as head coach and then general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. As a defenceman, he played for the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Rangers from 1979 to 1998. Read more
• 15 Apr 1959: Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, author, activist and screenwriter Dame Emma Thompson is a British actress and screenwriter. Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and her accolades include two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2018, she was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to drama. Read more
• 15 Apr 1958: Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Keith Edward Acton is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), with the Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota North Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals and New York Islanders between 1980 and 1994. In his NHL coaching career, he has been an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Philadelphia Flyers, the New York Rangers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and, most recently, the Edmonton Oilers, who released Acton and fellow assistant Craig Ramsay on June 4, 2015. Read more
• 15 Apr 1958: John Bracewell, New Zealand cricketer John Garry Bracewell is a former New Zealand cricketer who was most recently the coach of the Irish national team. He played 41 Test matches between 1980 and 1990, as well as 53 One Day Internationals. He was the second New Zealand cricketer to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in Test cricket. Read more
• 15 Apr 1958: Memos Ioannou, Greek basketball player and coach Agamemnon "Memos" Ioannou is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach. At 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), he played at the point guard and shooting guard positions. Read more
• 15 Apr 1958: Benjamin Zephaniah, English actor, author, poet, and playwright (died 2023) Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. Over his lifetime, he was awarded 20 honorary doctorates in recognition of his contributions to literature, education, and the arts. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008. In his work, Zephaniah drew on his lived experiences of incarceration, racism and his Jamaican heritage. Read more
• 15 Apr 1957: Evelyn Ashford, American runner and coach Evelyn Ashford is an American retired track and field athlete, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash, and the world record-holder in the 60-yard dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was the first woman to run under 11 seconds in an Olympic Games. Ashford has the distinction of owning the longest unbroken athletics record. Read more
• 15 Apr 1956: Michael Cooper, American basketball player and coach Michael Jerome Cooper, nicknamed "Coop", is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles men's basketball team. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers during his entire career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning five NBA championships with the Lakers during their Showtime era. He was an eight-time selection to the NBA All-Defensive Team, including five times on the first team. He was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1987. Cooper was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024. The Lakers retired his No. 21 jersey in 2025. Read more
• 15 Apr 1955: Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (died 1997) Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em "Dodi" Fayed was an Egyptian film producer and the eldest child of the businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. He was romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. Read more
• 15 Apr 1955: Joice Mujuru, Zimbabwean politician Joice Runaida Mujuru, also known by her nom-de-guerre Teurai Ropa Nhongo, is a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 2004 to 2014. Previously, she had served as a government minister and as vice-president of ZANU–PF. She was married to Solomon Mujuru until his death in 2011 and was long considered a potential successor to President Robert Mugabe, but in 2014 she was denounced for allegedly plotting against Mugabe. As a result of the accusations against her, Mujuru lost both her post as vice-president and her position in the party leadership. She was expelled from the party a few months later, after which she formed the new Zimbabwe People First party. Read more
• 15 Apr 1952: Kym Gyngell, Australian actor, comedian, and screenwriter Kim Gyngell, sometimes also credited as Kym Gyngell, is an Australian comedian and film, television and stage actor. Gyngell won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1988 for his role as Ian McKenzie in Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Read more
• 15 Apr 1952: Brian Muir, English sculptor and set designer Brian Ian Muir is a British sculptor who most famously created Darth Vader's helmet and armour using Ralph McQuarrie's design. Read more
• 15 Apr 1952: Avital Ronell, Czech-American philosopher and academic Avital Ronell is an American academic who writes about continental philosophy, literary studies, psychoanalysis, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the humanities and in the departments of Germanic languages and literature and comparative literature at New York University, where she co-directs the trauma and violence transdisciplinary studies program. As Jacques Derrida Professor of Philosophy, Ronell also teaches at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee. Read more
• 15 Apr 1952: Glenn Shadix, American actor, (died 2010) William Glenn Shadix-Scott was an American actor and comedian. He was best known for his roles as Otho Fenlock in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice and the Mayor of Halloween Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Read more
• 15 Apr 1951: Heloise, American journalist and author Ponce Kiah Marchelle Heloise Cruse Evans, best known by her pen name Heloise, is an American writer, author, and speaker specializing in lifestyle hints, including consumer issues, pets, travel, food, home improvement, and health. Heloise's father was in the Air Force, and like many military brats she moved frequently. Read more
• 15 Apr 1951: John L. Phillips, American captain and astronaut John Lynch Phillips is a NASA astronaut. Phillips is also a Naval Aviator and retired captain, United States Navy Reserve. Phillips has received numerous awards and special honors. He is a National Merit Scholar, graduated 2nd in his class of 906 people at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1972. Phillips has also been awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Gagarin Medal and several others. Phillips has logged over 4,400 flight hours and 250 aircraft carrier landings, flying the A-7 Corsair II carrier-based light attack aircraft while on active duty in the Regular Navy and subsequently during his time as a Navy Reservist from 1982 to 2002. At the time of his retirement, Phillips had retained the rank of captain. Read more
• 15 Apr 1951: Stuart Prebble, English journalist and producer
  Stuart Colin Prebble was a British television executive who was Chairman of Storyvault Films, and was CEO of ITV, Granada Sky Broadcasting and of ITV Digital. Read more
• 15 Apr 1951: Marsha Ivins, American engineer and astronaut Marsha Sue Ivins is an American retired astronaut and a veteran of five Space Shuttle missions. Read more
• 15 Apr 1950: Josiane Balasko, French actress, director, and screenwriter Josiane Balasko is a French actress, writer, and director. She has been nominated eight times for César Awards, and won three times. Read more
• 15 Apr 1950: Amy Wright, American actress Amy Wright is an American actress and former model. She has appeared in such films as The Deer Hunter, Breaking Away, The Accidental Tourist, Hard Promises, Crossing Delancey, and Miss Firecracker. She is the widow of actor Rip Torn. Read more
• 15 Apr 1950: Karel Kroupa, Czech football player Karel Kroupa is a former Czech football player, considered as legendary player of Zbrojovka Brno. Read more
• 15 Apr 1949: Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer-songwriter and actress Alla Borisovna Pugacheva is a Russian singer and songwriter. Her career began in 1965 and continues to this day, although she retired from performing in 2010 after the international concert tour "Dreams of Love". For her "clear mezzo-soprano and a full display of sincere emotions", she enjoys an iconic status across the former Soviet Union as the most successful Soviet performer in terms of record sales and popularity. For several decades, Pugacheva was a sex symbol, a style icon, an inspiration for Soviet women and a heroine of Russian tabloids. In the media, Pugacheva has been called "the Queen of Russian pop music". Pugacheva is one of the few Russian performers who has achieved international success, along with Anna Netrebko and t.A.T.u. Some Russian publications have suggested that she would not be welcome to return to Russia. Read more
• 15 Apr 1949: Craig Zadan, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2018) Craig Zadan was an American producer and writer. Working alone and with Neil Meron, his partner in the production company Storyline Entertainment, he produced such films as Footloose, Chicago and Hairspray. Read more
• 15 Apr 1948: Christopher Brown, English historian, curator, and academic Christopher Paul Hadley Brown, CBE is a British art historian and academic. He was director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England from 1998 to 2014. He is recognised as an authority on Sir Anthony van Dyck. Read more
• 15 Apr 1948: Michael Kamen, American composer and conductor (died 2003) Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer, arranger, conductor, songwriter, and musician. He began his work as a pop and rock music arranger, notably for Pink Floyd, and was a member of the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble and the Roger Waters Band. Starting in the mid-1980s, he achieved further prominence as a composer of film scores. Read more
• 15 Apr 1948: Phil Mogg, English singer-songwriter and musician Phillip John Mogg is an English singer. He was the lead singer and frontman of the hard rock band UFO, which he co-founded with longtime friends Pete Way, Andy Parker, and Mick Bolton in 1968. Read more
• 15 Apr 1947: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, American screenwriter and producer Linda Joyce Bloodworth-Thomason is an American writer, director, and television producer. She is best known for creating, writing, and producing several television series, most successfully with the sitcoms Designing Women and Evening Shade. She and her husband, Harry Thomason, are also notable for their friendship with former President Bill Clinton, and the role they played in his election campaigns. Read more
• 15 Apr 1947: Martin Broughton, English businessman Sir Martin Faulkner Broughton is a British businessman and deputy chairman of International Airlines Group. Formed in January 2011, IAG is the parent company of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling. It is a Spanish registered company with shares traded on the London Stock Exchange and Spanish Stock Exchanges. The corporate head office for IAG is in London, UK. He is also a Managing Partner at Sports Investment Partners and chairman of the sports virtual advertising company Supponor. He is a former chairman of Liverpool Football Club and also served as President of the Confederation of British Industry. Read more
• 15 Apr 1947: Lois Chiles, American model and actress Lois Cleveland Chiles is an American actress and former fashion model known for her role as Holly Goodhead in the James Bond film Moonraker (1979). Other screen credits include The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Death on the Nile (1978), Broadcast News (1987), and the television role of Holly Harwood on Dallas (1982–1983). Read more
• 15 Apr 1947: David Omand, English civil servant and academic Sir David Bruce Omand is a British former senior civil servant who served as the Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) from 1996 to 1997. Read more
• 15 Apr 1947: Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Swedish nurse and politician, Swedish Minister for Social Security Cristina Maria Husmark Pehrsson is a Swedish politician and a member of the Moderate Party. She served as Minister for Social Security and as Minister for Nordic Cooperation from 2006 to 2010. She is a certified nurse and was a member of the Swedish Riksdag for Skåne County West from 1998 to 2014. Read more
• 15 Apr 1946: John Lloyd, Scottish journalist and author John Nicol Fortune Lloyd is a British journalist who is currently contributing editor at the Financial Times and an Associate Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. Read more
• 15 Apr 1946: Pete Rouse, American politician, White House Chief of Staff Peter Mikami Rouse is an American political consultant who served as interim White House Chief of Staff to U.S. President Barack Obama. Rouse previously spent many years on Capitol Hill, becoming known as the "101st senator" during his tenure as Chief of Staff to Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. Read more
• 15 Apr 1944: Dave Edmunds, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer David William Edmunds is a Welsh retired singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He is mainly associated with pub rock and new wave, having produced many hits in these genres during the 1970s and early 1980s. Read more
• 15 Apr 1943: Pınar Kür, Turkish author, playwright, and academic (died 2025) Havva Pınar Kür was a Turkish novelist, dramatist, and translator. She worked as a academician in the media and communication systems department at Istanbul Bilgi University. Pınar Kür was the daughter of İsmet Kür (1916–2013), who was an educator, journalist, columnist and writer of mainly children's literature. Her maternal aunt Halide Nusret Zorlutuna (1901–1984) was a poet. Kür was considered a leading Turkish novelist. Read more
• 15 Apr 1943: Robert Lefkowitz, American physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate Robert Joseph Lefkowitz is an American physician and biochemist. He is best known for his discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family of G protein-coupled receptors, for which he was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Brian Kobilka. He is currently an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as a James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at Duke University. Read more
• 15 Apr 1943: Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater, English politician (died 2022) Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater of Butterstone was a British Liberal Democrat politician and member of the House of Lords. Her career indicated her interests in children's welfare, education and special needs, and prison reform. Read more
• 15 Apr 1943: Hugh Thompson, Jr., American soldier and pilot (died 2006) Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. was a United States Army officer, serving as a warrant officer in the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division. He is credited with ending the Mỹ Lai massacre of the South Vietnamese village known as Sơn Mỹ on March 16, 1968, alongside Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn. Read more
• 15 Apr 1942: Francis X. DiLorenzo, American bishop (died 2017) Francis Xavier DiLorenzo was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia from 2004 until his death in 2017. Read more
• 15 Apr 1942: Walt Hazzard, American basketball player and coach (died 2011) Mahdi Abdul-Rahman was an American professional basketball player and college basketball coach. He played in college for the UCLA Bruins and was a member of their first national championship team in 1964. He also won a gold medal that year with the US national team at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Hazzard began his pro career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers, who selected him a territorial pick in the 1964 NBA draft. He was named an NBA All-Star with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1968. After his playing career ended, he was the head coach at UCLA during the 1980s. Read more
• 15 Apr 1942: Kenneth Lay, American businessman and criminal (died 2006) Kenneth Lee Lay was an American businessman and political donor who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in Enron's accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the largest bankruptcy ever to that date. Lay was indicted by a grand jury and was found guilty of 10 counts of securities fraud at trial. Lay died in July 2006 while vacationing in his house near Aspen, Colorado, three months before his scheduled sentencing. A preliminary autopsy reported Lay died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. His death resulted in a vacated judgment. Conspiracy theories regarding Lay's death surfaced, alleging that it was faked. Read more
• 15 Apr 1942: Tim Lankester, English economist and academic

  Sir Timothy Patrick Lankester, KCB is a retired British civil servant, a former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and the first economic private secretary to Margaret Thatcher. Read more

• 15 Apr 1941: Howard Berman, American lawyer and politician Howard Lawrence Berman is an American attorney and retired politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1983 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state's 26th congressional district until redistricting and the 28th congressional district—which both encompassed parts of the San Fernando Valley—for a combined 15 terms. Read more
• 15 Apr 1940: Jeffrey Archer, English author, playwright, and politician Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare is an English novelist and former politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth (Lincolnshire) from 1969 to 1974, but did not seek re-election after a financial scandal that left him almost bankrupt. Read more
• 15 Apr 1940: Penelope Coelen, South African actress, model, beauty queen and 1958 Miss World Penelope Anne Coelen is a South African former actress, model and beauty queen who won Miss World 1958. She was the second major international titleholder to come from Africa. Read more
• 15 Apr 1940: Willie Davis, American baseball player and actor (died 2010) William Henry Davis was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball and the Nippon Professional Baseball league as a center fielder from 1960 through 1979, most prominently as an integral member of the Los Angeles Dodgers teams that won three National League pennants and two World Series titles between 1963 and 1966. Read more
• 15 Apr 1940: Robert Lacroix, Canadian economist and academic Robert Lacroix, is a professor of economics at the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Read more
• 15 Apr 1940: Robert Walker, American actor (died 2019) Robert Hudson Walker Jr. was an American actor who appeared in films including Easy Rider (1969). He was a familiar presence on television in the 1960s and early 1970s. Read more
• 15 Apr 1939: Marty Wilde, English singer-songwriter and actor Marty Wilde is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, scoring several 1950s and 1960s hit singles including "Endless Sleep", "Sea of Love" and "Bad Boy". During the late 1960s to early 1980s, Wilde continued to record and, with Ronnie Scott, co-wrote hit singles for others including the Casuals' "Jesamine" and Status Quo's "Ice in the Sun". He is the father of pop singer Kim Wilde and co-wrote many of her hit singles including "Kids in America" with his son Ricky. He continues to perform and record. Read more
• 15 Apr 1939: Desiré Ecaré, Ivorian filmmaker (died 2009) Désiré Ecaré was an Ivorian film director. His directorial debut was the film Concerto pour un exil in 1968, followed by A Nous Deux, France (1970). He directed the seminal film Faces of Women in 1985, which went on to win the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes Film Festival. Read more
• 15 Apr 1938: Claudia Cardinale, Italian actress (died 2025) Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale was an Italian Tunisian actress. Regarded as one of the leading figures of Italian cinema, alongside Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, she achieved international recognition during a career spanning more than six decades. Celebrated in the 1960s as "the most beautiful woman in the world" and widely considered a sex symbol of the era, Cardinale appeared in more than 175 films, primarily in Italy and France, across genres including comedy, drama, spaghetti westerns, and historical epics. She collaborated with acclaimed directors such as Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, and Werner Herzog, and several of her films are regarded as significant works in the history of cinema. At the time of her death, she was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of European cinema. Read more
• 15 Apr 1938: Hso Khan Pha, Burmese-Canadian geologist and politician (died 2016) Prince Hso Khan Pha of Yawnghwe was a prince of Yawnghwe. He was a son of Sao Shwe Thaik, the last Saopha of Yawnghwe and Sao Nang Hearn Kham, the Mahadevi (consort). He was a consulting geologist based in Canada. Read more
• 15 Apr 1937: Bob Luman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1978) Robert Glynn Luman was an American country and rockabilly singer. Read more
• 15 Apr 1937: Robert W. Gore, American engineer and businessman, co-inventor of Gore-Tex (died 2020) Robert W. Gore was an American engineer and scientist, inventor and businessman. Gore led his family's company, W. L. Gore & Associates, which was founded by his father Bill Gore, in developing applications of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) ranging from computer cables to medical equipment to the outer layer of space suits. His most significant breakthrough was likely the invention of Gore-Tex, a waterproof and breathable fabric popularly known for its use in sporting and outdoor gear. Read more
• 15 Apr 1936: Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist (died 2019) Raymond Poulidor, nicknamed "Pou-Pou", was a French professional racing cyclist, who rode for Mercier his entire career. Read more
• 15 Apr 1935: Stavros Paravas, Greek actor and producer (died 2008) Stavros Paravas was a Greek actor. Read more
• 15 Apr 1933: Roy Clark, American musician and television personality (died 2018) Roy Linwood Clark was an American singer, musician and television presenter. He is best known for having co-hosted Hee Haw, a nationally televised country music variety show, with Buck Owens, from 1969 to 1993. Clark was an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and in helping to popularize the genre. Clark was highly regarded and renowned as a guitarist, banjo player and fiddler. Read more
• 15 Apr 1933: David Hamilton, English-French photographer and director (died 2016) David Hamilton was a British photographer and film director best known for his photography of young women and girls, mostly nude. Hamilton's images became part of an "Art or pornography?" debate. Read more
• 15 Apr 1933: Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress and producer (died 1995) Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery was an American actress whose career spanned five decades in film, stage and television. She portrayed the good witch Samantha Stephens on the popular television series Bewitched, which earned her five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations. Read more
• 15 Apr 1931: Kenneth Bloomfield, Northern Irish civil servant (died 2025) Sir Kenneth Percy Bloomfield, KCB was a Northern Irish civil servant who was Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) and was later a member of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains. For a time, he was also Northern Ireland Victims Commissioner. Read more
• 15 Apr 1931: Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, translator, and psychologist Nobel Prize laureate (died 2015) Tomas Gösta Tranströmer was a Swedish poet, psychologist and translator. His poems captured the long winters in Sweden, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature. Tranströmer's work is also characterized by a sense of mystery and wonder underlying the routine of everyday life, a quality which often gives his poems a religious dimension. He has been described as a Christian poet. Read more
• 15 Apr 1930: Georges Descrières, French actor (died 2013) Georges Descrières was a French actor. He appeared in 52 films and television shows between 1954 and 1996. He starred alongside Anna Karina in the 1962 film Sun in Your Eyes and portrayed the gentleman-burglar title character in the internationally successful TV series Arsène Lupin. Read more
• 15 Apr 1930: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Icelandic educator and politician, 4th President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is an Icelandic politician and theatre director who was the fourth president of Iceland, serving from 1980 to 1996, the first woman to hold the position and the first in the world to be democratically elected president of a country. Having served for 16 years, she was also the longest-serving elected female head of state in history. Vigdís is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and a member of the Club of Madrid. Read more
• 15 Apr 1929: Gérald Beaudoin, Canadian lawyer and politician (died 2008) Gérald A. Beaudoin was a Canadian lawyer and Senator. Read more
• 15 Apr 1929: Adrian Cadbury, English rower and businessman (died 2015) Sir George Adrian Hayhurst Cadbury, was an English businessman who served as the chairman of Cadbury and Cadbury Schweppes for 24 years. He was also a British Olympic rower. Cadbury was a pioneer in raising the awareness and stimulating the debate on corporate governance and, via the Cadbury committee set up by the London Stock Exchange, produced the Cadbury Report, a code of best practice which served as a basis for reform of corporate governance around the world. Read more
• 15 Apr 1927: Robert Mills, American physicist and academic (died 1999) Robert Laurence Mills was an American physicist, specializing in quantum field theory, the theory of alloys, and many-body theory. Read more
• 15 Apr 1926: Jurriaan Schrofer, Dutch sculptor, designer, and educator (died 1990) Jurriaan Willem Schrofer was a Dutch sculptor, graphic designer, type designer, and art school educator. Read more
• 15 Apr 1924: M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (died 1980) Mylvaganam Canagaratnam was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and Member of Parliament. Read more
• 15 Apr 1924: Rikki Fulton, Scottish comedian (died 2004) Robert Kerr "Rikki" Fulton was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show Scotch and Wry. He was also known for his appearances as one half of the double act, Francie and Josie, alongside Jack Milroy. Read more
• 15 Apr 1924: Neville Marriner, English violinist and conductor (died 2016) Sir Neville Marriner, was an English conductor and violinist. Described as "one of the world's greatest conductors", Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of the 18 "Greatest and Most Famous Conductors of All Time". He founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and his partnership with them is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor. Read more
• 15 Apr 1923: Artur Alliksaar, Estonian poet and author (died 1966) Artur Alliksaar was an Estonian poet. Read more
• 15 Apr 1923: Robert DePugh, American activist, founded the Minutemen (an anti-Communist organization) (died 2009) Robert Boliver DePugh was an American anti-communist activist who founded the Minutemen militant anti-Communist organization in 1961. Read more
• 15 Apr 1922: Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (died 2013) Michael George Ansara was a Syrian‐American actor. He was often cast in Arab and Native American roles. His work in both film and television spanned several genres, including historical epics, Westerns, and science fiction. Read more
• 15 Apr 1922: Donn F. Draeger, American martial arts practitioner (died 1982) Donald Frederick "Donn" Draeger was an American practitioner and teacher of martial arts. He was the author of several important books on Asian martial arts, and was a pioneer of international judo in the United States and Japan. He also helped make the study of martial arts an acceptable topic of academic research. Read more
• 15 Apr 1922: Hasrat Jaipuri, Indian poet and songwriter (died 1999) Hasrat Jaipuri, born Iqbal Hussain, was an Indian poet, who wrote in the Hindi and Urdu languages. He was also a renowned film lyricist in Hindi films, where he won the Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist twice – in 1966 and 1972. Read more
• 15 Apr 1922: Harold Washington, American lawyer and politician, 51st Mayor of Chicago (died 1987) Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st mayor of Chicago. In April 1983, Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city's mayor at the age of 60. He served as mayor from April 29, 1983, until his death in 1987. Born in Chicago and raised in the Bronzeville neighborhood, Washington became involved in local 3rd Ward politics under Chicago Alderman and future Congressman Ralph Metcalfe after graduating from Roosevelt University and Northwestern University School of Law. Washington was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1983, representing Illinois's first district. Washington had previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1965 to 1976 and the Illinois State Senate from 1977 to 1980. A 1994 survey of experts on Chicago politics assessed Washington the third-best mayor in the city's history up to that time. Read more
• 15 Apr 1922: Graham Whitehead, English racing driver (died 1981) Alfred Graham Whitehead was a British racing driver from England. He participated in one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, on 19 July 1952. He finished 12th, scoring no championship points. He also competed in several non-Championship Formula One races. He began racing his half-brother Peter's ERA, in 1951 and then drove his Formula Two Alta in the 1952 British Grand Prix. He finished second at 1958 24 Hours of Le Mans only weeks before the accident on the Tour de France in which Peter was killed. Graham escaped serious injury and later raced again with an Aston Martin and Ferrari 250GT before stopping at the end of 1961. Read more
• 15 Apr 1921: Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (died 1995) Georgy Timofeyevich Beregovoy was a Soviet cosmonaut who commanded the space mission Soyuz 3 in 1968. From 1972 to 1987, he headed the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Read more
• 15 Apr 1921: Angelo DiGeorge, American physician and endocrinologist (died 2009) Angelo Mario DiGeorge was an American physician and pediatric endocrinologist from Philadelphia who pioneered the research on the autosomal dominant immunodeficiency now commonly referred to as DiGeorge syndrome. Read more
• 15 Apr 1920: Godfrey Stafford, English-South African physicist and academic (died 2013) Godfrey Harry Stafford CBE, FRS, was a British physicist and directed the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories from 1969 to 1981. He went on to be a master at St Cross College, Oxford and president of the Institute of Physics. In 1950 Dr. Stafford married Helen Goldthorp Clark, an Australian biologist. He has a son and twin daughters and lived near Oxford. Read more
• 15 Apr 1920: Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist and academic (died 2012) Thomas Stephen Szasz was a Hungarian-American academic and psychiatrist. He served for most of his career as professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. A distinguished lifetime fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a life member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, he was best known as a social critic of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry, as what he saw as the social control aims of medicine in modern society, as well as scientism. Read more
• 15 Apr 1920: Richard von Weizsäcker, German soldier and politician, 6th President of Germany (died 2015) Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German politician (CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, he took his first public offices in the Protestant Church in Germany. Read more
• 15 Apr 1919: Alberto Breccia, Uruguayan-Argentinian author and illustrator (died 1993) Alberto Breccia was a Uruguayan-born Argentine artist and cartoonist. His son Enrique Breccia and daughter Patricia Breccia are also comic book artists. Read more
• 15 Apr 1918: Hans Billian, German film director, screenwriter, and actor (died 2007) Hans Billian was a German film director, screenwriter, and actor noted for the "sex comedies" he directed in the 1970s. He was also credited as Hans Billan, Phillip Halliday, and Christian Kessler. Read more
• 15 Apr 1917: Hans Conried, American actor (died 1982) Hans Georg Conried Jr. was an American actor and comedian. Among his numerous roles, he voiced Captain Hook and George Darling in Walt Disney's Peter Pan (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's Dudley Do-Right cartoons, Professor Waldo P. Wigglesworth in Ward's Hoppity Hooper cartoons. Conried was host of Ward's live-action Fractured Flickers show, and had a recurring role as Professor Kropotkin in the radio and film versions of My Friend Irma. He also appeared as Uncle Tonoose on the Danny Thomas sitcom Make Room for Daddy, twice on I Love Lucy, and as the Mad Hatter in The Alphabet Conspiracy (1959). Read more
• 15 Apr 1917: Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and bomber pilot (died 1944) Elmer John Gedeon was an American professional baseball player, appearing in several games for the Washington Senators in 1939. Gedeon and Harry O'Neill were the only two Major League Baseball players killed during World War II. Gedeon flew several missions in the European Theater of Operations as an officer of the United States Army Air Forces before being shot down over France. Read more
• 15 Apr 1917: James Kee, American lawyer and politician (died 1989) James Kee was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives for West Virginia's 5th congressional district from 1965 to 1973, succeeding his mother Elizabeth Kee. His father John Kee served in the same House seat from 1933 to 1951. Read more
• 15 Apr 1916: Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (died 1982) Alfred Schiffer Bloomingdale was an American businessman who launched the credit card business Dine and Sign, was chairman of Diners Club, and became known as "father of the credit card." He was an heir to the Bloomingdale's department store fortune and the lover of murdered mistress Vicki Morgan. Read more
• 15 Apr 1916: Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (died 1997) Helene Hanff was an American writer born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is best known as the author of the book 84, Charing Cross Road, which became the basis for a stage play, television play, and film of the same name. Read more
• 15 Apr 1915: Elizabeth Catlett, African-American sculptor and illustrator (died 2012) Elizabeth Catlett, born as Alice Elizabeth Catlett, also known as Elizabeth Catlett Mora was an American and Mexican sculptor and graphic artist best known for her depictions of the Black-American experience in the 20th century, which often focused on the female experience. She was born and raised in Washington, D.C., to parents working in education, and was the grandchild of formerly enslaved people. It was difficult for a black woman then to pursue a career as a working artist. Catlett devoted much of her career to teaching. However, a fellowship awarded to her in 1946 allowed her to travel to Mexico City, where she settled and worked with the Taller de Gráfica Popular for twenty years and became head of the sculpture department for the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. In the 1950s, her main means of artistic expression shifted from print to sculpture, though she never gave up the former. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (died 1998) William Grosvenor Congdon was an American painter who became notable as an artist in New York City in the 1940s, but lived most of his life in Europe. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Kim Il Sung, North Korean general and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of North Korea (died 1994) Kim Il Sung was a North Korean revolutionary, military commander, politician, and dictator who founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), also known as North Korea, in 1948, and led the country from its establishment until his death in 1994. He was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il and was declared Eternal President. Read more
• 15 Apr 1910: Sulo Bärlund, Finnish shot putter (died 1986) Sulo Richard Bärlund was a Finnish shot putter who won a silver medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics. At the European Championships he finished fourth in 1938 and sixth in 1946. Read more
• 15 Apr 1910: Miguel Najdorf, Polish-Argentinian chess player and theoretician (died 1997) Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-Argentine chess grandmaster. Originally from Poland, he was in Argentina when World War II began in 1939, and he stayed and settled there. He was a leading world player in the 1940s and 1950s, and is also known for the Najdorf Variation, one of the most popular chess openings. Read more
• 15 Apr 1909: Robert Edison Fulton Jr., American inventor and adventurer (died 2004) Robert Edison Fulton Jr. was an American inventor and adventurer. He is known for having traveled around the world on a motorcycle in 1932–33, authored a book and made a film about his journey, and for several aviation-related inventions, among his 70 patents. Fulton was also a professional photographer. Read more
• 15 Apr 1908: eden ahbez, American songwriter and recording artist (died 1995) George Alexander Aberle, known as eden ahbez, was an American songwriter and recording artist of the 1940s to 1960s, whose lifestyle in California was influential in the hippie movement. He was known to friends simply as ahbe. Read more
• 15 Apr 1908: Lita Grey, American actress (died 1995) Lita Grey, who was known for most of her life as Lita Grey Chaplin, was an American actress. She was the second wife of Charlie Chaplin, and appeared in his films The Kid, The Idle Class, and The Gold Rush. Read more
• 15 Apr 1907: Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988) Nikolaas "Niko" Tinbergen was a Dutch biologist and ornithologist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz for their discoveries concerning the organization and elicitation of individual and social behavior patterns in animals. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, the study of animal behavior. Read more
• 15 Apr 1904: Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (died 1948) Arshile Gorky was an Armenian-American painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism. He spent the last years of his life as a national of the United States. Along with Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, Gorky has been hailed as one of the most powerful American painters of the 20th century. The suffering and loss he experienced in the Armenian genocide had crucial influence on Gorky's development as an artist. Read more
• 15 Apr 1903: John Williams, English-American actor (died 1983) Hugh Ernest Leo Williams, known professionally as John Williams, was an English stage, film and television actor. He is remembered for his role as Chief Inspector Hubbard in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, as the chauffeur in Billy Wilder's Sabrina, as Mr. Brogan-Moore in Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and as the second "Mr. French" on TV's Family Affair in its first season (1967). Read more
• 15 Apr 1902: Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (died 2002) Fernando Pessa, ComIH, GOM, OBE was a Portuguese journalist and reporter. Early in 2002, Pessa was hailed as the world's oldest journalist. Read more
• 15 Apr 1901: Joe Davis, English snooker player (died 1978) Joseph Davis was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is now played, such as break-building. He drove the creation of the World Snooker Championship by persuading the Billiards Association and Control Council to recognise an official professional snooker championship in 1927. Davis won the first 15 world championships from 1927 to 1946, and he is the only undefeated player in World Snooker Championship history. In 1935, he scored the championship's first century break. Read more
• 15 Apr 1901: Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (died 1986) Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee was an Indian independence activist and politician who served three short terms as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. He hailed from Tamluk, Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal. Read more
• 15 Apr 1901: René Pleven, French businessman and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1993) René Jean Pleven was a notable political figure of the French Resistance and Fourth Republic. An early associate of Jean Monnet then member of the Free French led by Charles de Gaulle, he took a leading role in colonial and financial matters including the Gaullist takeover of French Equatorial Africa in 1940, the creation of the Caisse Centrale de la France Libre in 1941, the Brazzaville Conference in 1944, and the nationalization of the largest French banks in 1945. Read more
• 15 Apr 1900: Ramón Iribarren, Spanish civil engineer (died 1967) Ramón Iribarren Cavanilles Ing.D was a Spanish civil engineer and professor of ports at the School of Civil Engineering in Madrid. He was chairman of the Spanish delegation to the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses and was elected as an academic at the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, although he did not take up the latter position. He made notable contributions in the field of coastal engineering, including methods for the calculation of breakwater stability and research which led to the development of the Iribarren number. Read more
• 15 Apr 1898: Harry Edward, Guyanese-English sprinter (died 1973) Harry Francis Vincent Edward, known as Harry Edward, was a German-British athlete in track; in 1920 he was Britain's first black Olympian and the first black person to win Olympic medals. He represented the UK and competed in the 100 and 200 m 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, winning bronze medals in both events. Because he injured himself during the 200 m final, he withdrew from the 4 × 100 m relay. Read more
• 15 Apr 1896: Nikolay Semyonov, Russian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1986) Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov , sometimes Semenov, Semionov or Semenoff was a Soviet physicist and chemist. Semyonov was awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the mechanism of chemical transformation. Read more
• 15 Apr 1895: Clark McConachy, New Zealand snooker player (died 1980) Clark McConachy, often known simply as Mac, was a New Zealand professional player of English billiards and snooker. Read more
• 15 Apr 1895: Abigail Mejia, Dominican feminist activist, nationalist, literary critic and educator (died 1941) Ana Emilia Abigaíl Mejia Soliere was a feminist activist, nationalist, literary critic and educator from the Dominican Republic. She completed her primary education at the Salome Ureña de Henríquez School for Girls and Liceo Dominicano. In 1912, she became a teacher in Barcelona where she resided with her family. She returned to the Dominican Republic in 1925 and became a professor of Literature, Pedagogy and History at the Superior Normal School of Santo Domingo. She is one of the leading figures of feminism in the Dominican Republic, founding the Club Nosotras in 1927 and Acción Feminista. Read more
• 15 Apr 1894: Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union (died 1971) Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. As leader of the Soviet Union, he stunned the world by denouncing his predecessor Joseph Stalin, embarking on a campaign of de-Stalinization, and presiding over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Read more
• 15 Apr 1894: Bessie Smith, African-American singer and actress (died 1937) Bessie Smith was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists. Read more
• 15 Apr 1892: Theo Osterkamp, German general and pilot (died 1975) Theodor "Theo" Osterkamp was a German fighter pilot during World War I and World War II. A flying ace, he achieved 32 victories in World War I. In World War II, he led Jagdgeschwader 51 up to the Battle of Britain and claimed a further six victories during World War II, in the process becoming one of only a few men to score victories and become an ace in both world wars. Read more
• 15 Apr 1892: Corrie ten Boom, Dutch-American clocksmith, Nazi resister, and author (died 1983) Cornelia Arnolda Johanna "Corrie" ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker and later a Christian writer and public speaker, who worked with her father, Casper ten Boom, her sister Betsie ten Boom and other family members to help many Jewish people escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust in World War II by hiding them in her home. They were caught, and she was arrested and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Her most famous book, The Hiding Place, is a biography that recounts the story of her family's efforts and how she found and shared hope in God while she was imprisoned at the concentration camp. Read more
• 15 Apr 1890: Percy Shaw, English businessman, invented the cat's eye (died 1976)

  Percy Shaw, was an English inventor and businessman. He patented the reflective road stud or "cat's eye" in 1934, and set up a company to manufacture his invention in 1935. Read more

• 15 Apr 1889: Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and educator (died 1975) Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter, muralist, and printmaker. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. The fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States. Read more
• 15 Apr 1889: A. Philip Randolph, American activist (died 1979) Asa Philip Randolph was an American labor unionist and civil rights activist. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African-American-led labor union. In the early Civil Rights Movement and the Labor Movement, Randolph was a prominent voice. His continuous agitation with the support of fellow labor rights activists against racist labor practices helped lead President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 in 1941, banning discrimination in the defense industries during World War II. The group then successfully maintained pressure, so that President Harry S. Truman proposed a new Civil Rights Act and issued Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 in 1948, promoting fair employment and anti-discrimination policies in federal government hiring, and ending racial segregation in the armed services. Read more
• 15 Apr 1888: Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (died 1904) Maximilian Kronberger, known familiarly as Maximin, was a German poet and a significant figure in the literary circle of Stefan George. Read more
• 15 Apr 1887: Felix Pipes, Austrian tennis player (died 1983) Fritz Felix Pipes was an Austrian tennis player who was born in Prague. He was Jewish, and was a medical doctor. At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics he teamed up with Arthur Zborzil to win a silver medal for Austria in the men's doubles event. Read more
• 15 Apr 1887: William Forgan Smith, Scottish-Australian politician, 24th Premier of Queensland (died 1953) William Forgan Smith was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of the state of Queensland from 1932 to 1942. He came to dominate politics in the state during the 1930s, and his populism, firm leadership, defence of states' rights and interest in state development make him something of an archetypal Queensland Premier. He represented the Labor Party. Read more
• 15 Apr 1886: Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet and critic (died 1921) Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev was a Russian poet, literary critic, traveler, and military officer. He was a co-founder of the Acmeist movement. He was the husband of Anna Akhmatova and the father of Lev Gumilev. Nikolai Gumilev was arrested and executed by the Cheka, the secret Soviet police force, in 1921. Read more
• 15 Apr 1885: Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (died 1947) Tadeusz Kutrzeba was a general of the army during the Second Polish Republic. He served as a major general in the Polish Army in overall command of Army Poznań during the 1939 German Invasion of Poland. Read more
• 15 Apr 1883: Stanley Bruce, Australian captain and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1967) Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne was an Australian politician, statesman and businessman who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929. He held office as the leader of the Nationalist Party, having previously served as the treasurer of Australia from 1921 to 1923. Read more
• 15 Apr 1879: Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (died 1980) Melville Henry Cane was an American poet and lawyer. He studied at Columbia University, and was the author of the influential book, Making a Poem (1953). Read more
• 15 Apr 1878: Robert Walser, Swiss author and playwright (died 1956) Robert Walser was a German language Swiss writer. He additionally worked as a copyist, an inventor's assistant, a butler, and in various other low-paying trades. Despite marginal early success in his literary career, the popularity of his work gradually diminished over the second and third decades of the 20th century, making it increasingly difficult for him to support himself through writing. He eventually had a nervous breakdown and spent the remainder of his life in sanatoria. Read more
• 15 Apr 1877: Georg Kolbe, German sculptor (died 1947) Georg Kolbe was a German sculptor. He was the leading German figure sculptor of his generation, in a vigorous, modern, simplified classical style similar to Aristide Maillol of France. Read more
• 15 Apr 1877: William David Ross, Scottish philosopher (died 1971) Sir William David Ross, known as David Ross but usually cited as W. D. Ross, was a Scottish Aristotelian philosopher, translator, WWI veteran, civil servant, and university administrator. His best-known work is The Right and the Good (1930), in which he developed a pluralist, deontological form of intuitionist ethics in response to G. E. Moore's consequentialist form of intuitionism. Ross also critically edited and translated a number of Aristotle's works, such as his 12-volume translation of Aristotle together with John Alexander Smith, and wrote on other Greek philosophy. Read more
• 15 Apr 1875: James J. Jeffries, American boxer and promoter (died 1953) James Jackson Jeffries was an American professional boxer and world heavyweight champion from 1899 until his initial retirement in 1905. Read more
• 15 Apr 1874: George Harrison Shull, American botanist and geneticist (died 1954) George Harrison Shull was an American plant geneticist who played a central role in the development of hybrid maize and in establishing the genetic basis of heterosis. Read more
• 15 Apr 1874: Johannes Stark, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1957) Johannes Stark was a German physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1919 for his discovery of the Stark effect. Read more
• 15 Apr 1863: Ida Freund, Austrian-born chemist and educator (died 1914) Ida Freund was the first woman to be a university chemistry lecturer in the United Kingdom. She is known for her influence on science teaching, particularly the teaching of women and girls. She wrote two key chemistry textbooks and invented the idea of baking periodic table cupcakes, as well as inventing a gas measuring tube, which was named after her. Read more
• 15 Apr 1861: Bliss Carman, Canadian-British poet and playwright (died 1929) William Bliss Carman was a Canadian poet who lived most of his life in the United States, where he achieved international fame. He was acclaimed as Canada's poet laureate during his later years. Read more
• 15 Apr 1858: Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, psychologist, and philosopher (died 1917) David Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline of sociology, and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, along with Karl Marx and Max Weber. Read more
• 15 Apr 1856: Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (died 1910) Jean Moréas was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek during his youth. Read more
• 15 Apr 1843: Henry James, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (died 1916) Henry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of theologian Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. Read more
• 15 Apr 1841: Mary Grant Roberts, Australian zoo owner (died 1921) Mary Grant Roberts was an Australian zoo owner. Roberts owned Hobart Zoo from when it opened in 1895 until her death in 1921. The zoo was closed in 1937. Read more
• 15 Apr 1841: Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company Ltd (died 1919) Joseph Emm Seagram was a Canadian distillery founder, politician, philanthropist, and major owner of thoroughbred racehorses. Read more
• 15 Apr 1832: Wilhelm Busch, German poet, painter, and illustrator (died 1908) Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Busch was a German humorist, poet, illustrator, and painter. He published wildly innovative illustrated tales that remain influential to this day. Read more
• 15 Apr 1828: Jean Danjou, French captain (died 1863) Jean Danjou was a decorated captain of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. He commanded the two lieutenants and 62 legionnaires who fought the Battle of Camarón during the French intervention in Mexico, in which he was killed. Read more
• 15 Apr 1817: William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (died 1885) William Lodewyk Crowther FRCS was a Tasmanian politician, who was Premier of Tasmania from 20 December 1878 to 29 October 1879. Read more
• 15 Apr 1809: Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician (died 1877) Hermann Günther Grassmann was a German polymath known in his day as a linguist and now also as a mathematician. He was also a physicist, general scholar, and publisher. His mathematical work was little noted until he was in his sixties. His work preceded and exceeded the concept which is now known as a vector space. He introduced the Grassmannian, the space which parameterizes all k-dimensional linear subspaces of an n-dimensional vector space V. In linguistics he helped free language history and structure from each other. Read more
• 15 Apr 1808: William Champ, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Tasmania (died 1892) William Thomas Napier Champ was a soldier and politician who served as the first Premier of Tasmania from 1856 to 1857. He was born in the United Kingdom. Read more
• 15 Apr 1800: James Clark Ross, English captain and explorer (died 1862) Rear-Admiral of the Red Sir James Clark Ross was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who explored both the North and South Poles. In the Arctic, he participated in two expeditions led by his uncle, John Ross, and in four led by William Edward Parry: in the Antarctic, he led his own expedition from 1839 to 1843. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 15 April in World History

• 15 Apr 2025: Wink Martindale, American DJ, radio personality, and TV personality (born 1933) Winston Conrad "Wink" Martindale was an American disc jockey, radio personality, game show host and television producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he was known for his outgoing and jovial demeanor and his booming voice, who was also well-known for hosting the game shows: Gambit from 1972 to 1976, Tic-Tac-Dough from 1978 to 1985, High Rollers from 1987 to 1988, and Debt from 1996 to 1998. He also presented Wink's Vault, on his YouTube Channel, from 2014 until his death in 2025. Read more
• 15 Apr 2024: Whitey Herzog, American professional baseball outfielder and manager (born 1931) Dorrel Norman Elvert "Whitey" Herzog was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager, most notable for his Major League Baseball (MLB) managerial career. Read more
• 15 Apr 2024: Josip Manolić, Croatian politician, prime minister, and speaker of the Chamber of Counties (born 1920) Josip "Joža" Manolić was a Croatian politician and communist revolutionary during World War II in Yugoslavia. He served as a high-ranking official of the Yugoslav State Security Administration and later as Prime Minister of Croatia, from 24 August 1990 to 17 July 1991. He was the last prime minister of Croatia as a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, as the country formally declared its independence during his term, on 25 June 1991. Following his brief term as prime minister, Manolić served as the first Speaker of the Chamber of Counties, the then upper house of the Croatian Parliament, from 1993 until 1994. Read more
• 15 Apr 2022: Bilquis Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist and wife of Abdul Sattar Edhi (born 1947) Bilquis Bano Edhi was a Pakistani nurse who helped save the lives of over 16,000 children. During her career as a nurse and marriage to Abdul Sattar Edhi, she was one of the most active philanthropists in Pakistan. She was the co-chair of the Edhi Foundation, a charity organization that provided many services in Pakistan including a hospital and emergency service in Karachi. For her contributions, she was awarded the 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service and the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice in 2015. She was also a recipient of Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's second highest civilian honour. For her service to the country, she was also referred to as The Mother of Pakistan. Read more
• 15 Apr 2022: Henry Plumb, British politician and farmer (born 1925) Charles Henry Plumb, Baron Plumb, was a British politician and farmer who went into politics as a leader of the National Farmers' Union. He later became active in the Conservative Party and was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He served as an MEP from 1979 to 1999, and was President of the European Parliament from 1987 to 1989, the only Briton to hold the post. Read more
• 15 Apr 2022: Liz Sheridan, American actress (born 1929) Elizabeth Ann Sheridan was an American actress. While best known for her roles as the nosy neighbor, Mrs. Ochmonek, on the sitcom ALF (1986–1990), and Jerry's mother, Helen, in Seinfeld (1990–1998), her decades-long career was extensive and included work on the stage and on large and small screens. Read more
• 15 Apr 2018: R. Lee Ermey, American actor (born 1944) Ronald Lee Ermey was an American actor and U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Ermey was also a United States Marine Corps staff sergeant and an honorary gunnery sergeant. Read more
• 15 Apr 2018: Vittorio Taviani, Italian film director and screenwriter (born 1929) Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, collectively referred to as the Taviani brothers, were Italian film directors and screenwriters who collaborated on numerous film productions. Read more
• 15 Apr 2017: Clifton James, American actor (born 1920) George Clifton James was an American actor of film, theatre, and television. He was best known to screen audiences for his various character roles, including prison floorwalker Carr in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond films Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), the sheriff in Silver Streak (1976), a Texas tycoon in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977), and Charles Comiskey in Eight Men Out (1988). Read more
• 15 Apr 2017: Emma Morano, Italian supercentenarian, last person verified born in the 1800s (born 1899) Emma Martina Luigia Morano was an Italian supercentenarian. She was the world's oldest living person from 13 May 2016 until her death on 15 April 2017, aged 117 years and 137 days. She was also the last living person verified to have been born in the 1800s. She remains the oldest Italian person ever to be documented and the fourth-oldest European ever. Read more
• 15 Apr 2015: Jonathan Crombie, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (born 1966) Jonathan Crombie was a Canadian actor and voice-over artist, best known for playing Gilbert Blythe in CBC Television's 1985 telefilm Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels. Read more
• 15 Apr 2015: Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1928) Surya Bahadur Thapa was a Nepali politician and a five-time Prime Minister of Nepal. He served under three different kings in a political career lasting more than 50 years. Read more
• 15 Apr 2014: John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (born 1919) John Cornelius Houbolt was an aerospace engineer credited with leading the team behind the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mission mode, a concept that was used to successfully land humans on the Moon and return them to Earth. This flight path was chosen for the Apollo program in July 1962. The critical decision to use LOR was viewed as vital to ensuring that man reached the Moon by the end of the decade as proposed by President John F. Kennedy. In the process, LOR saved time and billions of dollars by efficiently using the available rocket and spacecraft technologies. Read more
• 15 Apr 2014: Eliseo Verón, Argentinian sociologist and academic (born 1935) Eliseo Verón was an Argentine sociologist, anthropologist and semiotician, and professor of communication sciences at Universidad de San Andrés. His work is known mainly in Spanish and French-speaking countries. Read more
• 15 Apr 2013: Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (born 1930) Benjamin Fain was an Israeli physicist, professor-emeritus, and former refusenik. Read more
• 15 Apr 2013: Richard LeParmentier, American-English actor and screenwriter (born 1946) Richard LeParmentier was an American actor who lived and worked primarily in the United Kingdom, best known for his role as Admiral Motti in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) and the acerbic police officer Lt. Santino in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). He is credited under several variations of his name, including Richard Parmentier, Rick Le Parmentier and Richard LeParmentiere. Read more
• 15 Apr 2013: Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (born 1928) Jean-François Paillard was a French conductor. Read more
• 15 Apr 2012: Paul Bogart, American director and producer (born 1919) Paul Bogart was an American television director and producer. Bogart directed episodes of the television series 'Way Out in 1961, Coronet Blue in 1967, Get Smart, The Dumplings in 1976, All in the Family from 1975 to 1979, Mama Malone in 1982, and four episodes of the first season of The Golden Girls in 1985. Among his films are Oh, God! You Devil, Torch Song Trilogy, Halls of Anger, Marlowe, Skin Game, and Class of '44. He won five Primetime Emmy Awards during his long career, from sixteen nominations. In 1991, he was awarded the French Festival Internationelle Programmes Audiovisuelle at the Cannes Film Festival. Read more
• 15 Apr 2012: Dwayne Schintzius, American basketball player (born 1968) Dwayne Kenneth Schintzius was an American basketball player who played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in Brandon, Florida and attended the University of Florida, where he helped lead the Florida Gators men's basketball program to its first three NCAA tournament appearances as an all-conference center. Schintzius was selected in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs, but chronic back problems reduced his effectiveness, and he played for six different NBA teams over ten seasons in the league, mainly as a reserve player. Read more
• 15 Apr 2011: Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian journalist, author, and activist (born 1975) Vittorio Arrigoni was an Italian journalist and activist. He worked with the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement (ISM), through which he arrived in the Gaza Strip in 2008. He maintained a website called Guerrilla Radio and also published a book about his experiences in Gaza City during the 2008–2009 Gaza War between Hamas and Israel. In 2011, he was abducted and murdered by a group of Salafi jihadists. The Hamas government, which identified the perpetrators as Palestinian and Jordanian affiliates of al-Qaeda, subsequently initiated a manhunt and arrested the accused suspects during a raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp. Arrigoni was the first foreign national to have been involved in such an incident in the Gaza Strip since the kidnapping of British journalist Alan Johnston in 2007. Read more
• 15 Apr 2010: Jack Herer, American author and activist (born 1939) Jack Herer, sometimes called the "Emperor of Hemp", was an American cannabis rights activist and the author of the 1985 book The Emperor Wears No Clothes. Herer founded and served as the director of the organization Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP). Read more
• 15 Apr 2010: Michael Pataki, American actor and director (born 1938) Michael Pataki was an American actor of stage, film and television. Read more
• 15 Apr 2009: Clement Freud, German-English journalist, academic, and politician (born 1924) Sir Clement Raphael Freud was a British broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany as a child and later worked as a prominent chef and food writer. Read more
• 15 Apr 2009: László Tisza, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (born 1907) László Tisza was a Hungarian-born American physicist who was Professor of Physics Emeritus at MIT. He was a colleague of famed physicists Edward Teller, Lev Landau and Fritz London, and initiated the two-fluid model of liquid helium. Read more
• 15 Apr 2009: Salih Neftçi, Turkish economist and author (born 1947) Salih Nur Neftçi was a leading expert in the fields of financial markets and financial engineering. He served many advisory roles in national and international financial institutions, and was an active researcher in the fields of finance and financial engineering. Neftçi was an avid and highly regarded educator in mathematical finance who was well known for a lucid and accessible approach towards the field. Read more
• 15 Apr 2008: Krister Stendahl, Swedish bishop, theologian, and scholar (born 1921) Krister Olofson Stendahl was a Swedish theologian, New Testament scholar, and Church of Sweden Bishop of Stockholm. He also served as dean, professor, and professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School. Read more
• 15 Apr 2007: Brant Parker, American illustrator (born 1920) Brant Julian Parker was an American cartoonist. He co-created and drew The Wizard of Id comic strip until passing the job on to his son, Jeff Parker, in 1997. Cartoonist Johnny Hart, his co-creator, continued writing the strip until his death on April 7, 2007. Parker himself died eight days later, on April 15. Read more
• 15 Apr 2004: Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese illustrator (born 1934) Mitsuteru Yokoyama was a Japanese manga artist. Considered to be one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of manga and anime, his works have had a significant impact in the creation and establishment of many genres. These include: mecha, magical girl, battle manga, ninja, and literary adaptations (Sangokushi). Some of his other works include Giant Robo, Kamen no Ninja Akakage, Princess Comet, and an adaptation of the Chinese classic Water Margin. Read more
• 15 Apr 2002: Damon Knight, American author and critic (born 1922) Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He wrote "To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for The Twilight Zone. He was married to fellow writer Kate Wilhelm in 1963. Read more
• 15 Apr 2002: Byron White, American football player, lawyer, and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (born 1917) Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White was an American lawyer and professional football halfback who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1962 to 1993. At the time of his retirement, he was the Supreme Court's only sitting justice appointed by a Democrat and the last-living member of the progressive Warren Court. Read more
• 15 Apr 2001: Joey Ramone, American singer-songwriter (born 1951) Jeffrey Ross Hyman, known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist and founding member of the punk rock band Ramones, with Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone. His image, voice, and tenure with the Ramones made him a countercultural icon. Read more
• 15 Apr 2000: Edward Gorey, American poet and illustrator (born 1925) Edward St. John Gorey was an American writer, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers. His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in Victorian and Edwardian settings. Read more
• 15 Apr 1999: Harvey Postlethwaite, English engineer (born 1944) Harvey Ernest Postlethwaite was a British engineer and Technical Director of several Formula One teams during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He died of a heart attack in Spain while supervising the testing of the aborted Honda F1 project. Read more
• 15 Apr 1998: William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (born 1912) William Grosvenor Congdon was an American painter who became notable as an artist in New York City in the 1940s, but lived most of his life in Europe. Read more
• 15 Apr 1998: Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (born 1925) Pol Pot was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 until his overthrow in 1979. During his reign, his administration oversaw mass atrocities and he is widely believed to be one of the most brutal despots in modern world history. Ideologically a Maoist and Khmer ethnonationalist, Pot was a leader of Cambodia's Communist movement, known as the Khmer Rouge, from 1963 to 1997. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1963 to 1981, during which Cambodia was converted into a one-party state. Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge perpetrated the Cambodian genocide, in which an estimated 1.5–2 million people died—approximately one-quarter of the country's pre-genocide population. In December 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia to remove the Khmer Rouge from power. Within two weeks Vietnamese forces occupied most of the country, ending the genocide and establishing a new Cambodian government, with the Khmer Rouge restricted to the rural hinterlands in the western part of the country. Read more
• 15 Apr 1993: Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (born 1907) Leslie Charteris, was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of his hero Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". Read more
• 15 Apr 1993: John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geophysicist and geologist (born 1908) John Tuzo Wilson was a Canadian geophysicist, geologist and professor at the University of Toronto who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics. He added the concept of hot spots, a volcanic region hotter than the surrounding mantle. He also conceived of the transform fault, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally. Read more
• 15 Apr 1990: Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress (born 1905) Greta Garbo was a Swedish and American actress. She was a premier star during Hollywood's silent and early golden eras. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses of all time, she is known for her melancholic and somber screen persona, her film portrayals of tragic characters, and her subtle and understated performances. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on its list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Read more
• 15 Apr 1989: Hu Yaobang, Chinese soldier and politician, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (born 1915) Hu Yaobang was a Chinese politician who was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, then as General Secretary from 1982 to 1987. After the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), Hu rose to prominence as a close ally of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China at the time. Read more
• 15 Apr 1988: Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (born 1926) Kenneth Charles Williams was a British actor and comedian. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main cast in 26 of the 31 Carry On films and appeared in many British television programmes and radio comedies, including series with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne, as well as being a frequent panellist on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show Just a Minute from its second series in 1968 until his death 20 years later. Read more
• 15 Apr 1986: Jean Genet, French novelist, poet, and playwright (born 1910) Jean Genet was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels The Thief's Journal and Our Lady of the Flowers and the plays The Balcony, The Maids and The Screens. Read more
• 15 Apr 1984: Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedian and magician (born 1921) Thomas Frederick Cooper was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. He was large and lumbering at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army for seven years before developing his conjuring skills and becoming a member of The Magic Circle. Although he spent time on tour performing his magical act, which specialised in magic tricks that appeared to fail, he rose to international prominence when his career moved into television, with programmes for London Weekend Television and Thames Television. Read more
• 15 Apr 1982: Arthur Lowe, English actor (born 1915) Arthur Lowe was an English actor. His acting career spanned 37 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977, was nominated for seven BAFTAs and became one of the most recognised faces on UK television. He won his only BAFTA, the Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his performance in O Lucky Man! (1973). Read more
• 15 Apr 1980: Raymond Bailey, American actor and soldier (born 1904) Raymond Thomas Bailey was an American actor on the Broadway stage, films, and television. He is best known for his role as greedy banker Milburn Drysdale in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies. Read more
• 15 Apr 1980: Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905) Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism. His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution." Read more
• 15 Apr 1979: David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (born 1912) Sir David Brand KCMG was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving premier of Western Australia, in office from 1959 to 1971, and was state leader of the Liberal Party from 1957 to 1972. Read more
• 15 Apr 1971: Gurgen Boryan, Armenian poet and playwright (born 1915) Gurgen Mikayeli Boryan, was an Armenian poet and playwright. Read more
• 15 Apr 1971: Friedebert Tuglas, Estonian author and critic (born 1886) Friedebert Tuglas, born Friedebert Mihkelson or Michelson, was an Estonian writer and critic who introduced Impressionism and Symbolism to Estonian literature. Read more
• 15 Apr 1967: Totò, Italian comedian (born 1898) Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio, best known by his stage name Totò, or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed il principe della risata, was an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter, dramatist, poet, singer and lyricist. He is commonly referred to as one of the most popular Italian performers of all time. While best known for his funny and sometimes cynical comic characters in theatre and then many successful comedy films made from the 1940s to the 1960s, he also worked with many iconic Italian film directors in dramatic roles. Read more
• 15 Apr 1966: Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury, Bengali politician, writer, journalist, first health minister of East Pakistan (born 1906) Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury was a politician, journalist, footballer and writer from erstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh, who served in the political spheres of British India and Pakistan. Read more
• 15 Apr 1963: Edward Greeves, Jr., Australian footballer (born 1903) Edward Goderich "Carji" Greeves Jr. was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), now known as the Australian Football League (AFL). He won the inaugural Brownlow Medal in 1924, awarded to the VFL/AFL player adjudged fairest and best during the home-and-away season. He is the son of Ted Greeves, who also played with the Geelong Football Club. Read more
• 15 Apr 1962: Clara Blandick, American actress (born 1880) Clara Blandick was an American character, film, stage and theater actress. She is best known to today's audiences as Aunt Em in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer classic film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz (1939). As a character actress, she often played eccentric elderly matriarchs. Read more
• 15 Apr 1962: Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (born 1912) Arsenio Hilario Sison Lacson Sr. was a Filipino lawyer, journalist and politician who gained widespread attention as the 17th Mayor of Manila and the first to be democratically elected. An active executive likened by Time and The New York Times to New York City's Fiorello La Guardia, he was the first Manila mayor to be reelected to three terms, remaining in office for over a decade from January 1952 to April 1962. Nicknamed "Arsenic" and described as "a good man with a bad mouth", Lacson's fiery temperament became a trademark of his political and broadcasting career. He died suddenly from a stroke amidst talk that he was planning to run in the 1965 presidential election. Read more
• 15 Apr 1949: Wallace Beery, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1885) Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as the pirate Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934) for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr. Read more
• 15 Apr 1948: Radola Gajda, Montenegrin-Czech general and politician (born 1892) Radola Gajda, born as Rudolf Geidl was a Czech military commander and politician. Read more
• 15 Apr 1945: Hermann Florstedt, German SS officer (born 1895) Arthur Hermann Florstedt was a German SS official who served as the third commandant of Majdanek concentration camp from November 1942 to October 1943. Read more
• 15 Apr 1944: Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Russian general (born 1901) Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin was a Soviet military commander during World War II who was responsible for many Red Army operations in the Ukrainian SSR as the commander of the Southwestern Front, and of the Voronezh Front during the Battle of Kursk. During the Soviet offensive to retake right-bank Ukraine, Vatutin led the 1st Ukrainian Front, which was responsible for the Red Army's offensives to the west and the southwest of Kiev and the eventual liberation of the city. Read more
• 15 Apr 1943: Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian painter and set designer (born 1882) Aristarkh Vasilyevich Lentulov was a major Russian avant-garde artist of Cubist orientation who also worked on set designs for the theatre. Read more
• 15 Apr 1942: Robert Musil, Austrian-Swiss author and playwright (born 1880) Robert Musil was an Austrian philosophical writer. His unfinished novel, The Man Without Qualities, is generally considered to be one of the most important and influential modernist novels. Read more
• 15 Apr 1938: César Vallejo, Peruvian journalist, poet, and playwright (born 1892) César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet, writer, playwright, and journalist. Although he published only two books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language. Thomas Merton called him "the greatest universal poet since Dante". The late British poet, critic and biographer Martin Seymour-Smith, a leading authority on world literature, called Vallejo "the greatest twentieth-century poet in any language." He was a member of the intellectual community called North Group formed in the Peruvian north coastal city of Trujillo. Read more
• 15 Apr 1927: Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (born 1868) Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction. Read more
• 15 Apr 1925: Fritz Haarmann, German serial killer (born 1879) Friedrich Heinrich Karl "Fritz" Haarmann was a German serial rapist and serial killer, known as the Butcher of Hanover, the Vampire of Hanover and the Wolf Man, who committed the sexual assault, murder, mutilation and dismemberment of at least twenty-four young men and boys in the city of Hanover between 1918 and 1924. Read more
• 15 Apr 1917: János Murkovics, Slovene author, poet, and educator (born 1839) János Murkovics was a Slovene teacher, musician, and writer in Hungary. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Thomas Andrews Jr. was a British businessman and shipbuilder, who was managing director and head of the drafting department of the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. He was the naval architect in charge of the plans for the Olympic-class ocean liners, most notably the RMS Titanic. He perished along with more than 1,500 people when the ship sank on her maiden voyage; his body, if recovered, was not identified. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: John Jacob Astor IV was an American business magnate, real estate developer, and investor who was a member of the Astor family and also the Livingston family. A writer, as well as a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, he was among the most prominent American passengers aboard RMS Titanic and perished along with 1,495 others when the ship sank on her maiden voyage. Astor was the richest passenger aboard the RMS Titanic and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time, with a net worth of roughly $87 million when he died. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Archibald Willingham DeGraffenreid Clarendon Butt was an American Army officer and aide to presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. After a few years as a newspaper reporter, he served two years as the First Secretary of the American embassy in Mexico. He was commissioned in the United States Volunteers in 1898 and served in the Quartermaster Corps during the Spanish–American War. After brief postings in Washington, D.C., and Cuba, Butt was appointed military aide to Republican presidents Roosevelt and Taft. He was a highly influential advisor on a wide range of topics to both men, and his writings are a major source of historical information on the presidencies. He died in the sinking of the British liner Titanic in 1912. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Jacques Heath Futrelle was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as "The Thinking Machine" for his use of logic. Futrelle died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Benjamin Guggenheim was an American businessman, who was a wealthy member of the Guggenheim family. He was among the most prominent American passengers aboard the British ocean liner RMS Titanic and perished along with 1,495 others when the ship sank on her maiden voyage. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Henry Birkhardt Harris was a Broadway producer and theatre owner who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. His wife was the future producer Renee Harris, who survived the sinking and lived until 1969. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Wallace Henry Hartley was an English violinist, who became best known for his actions during the sinking of the Titanic. The bandleader on the Titanic during its maiden voyage, he led the eight-member band in various pieces as the ship sank on 15 April 1912; neither he nor any of the band survived. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Charles Melville Hays was the president of the Grand Trunk Railway. He began working in the railroad business as a clerk at the age of 17 and quickly rose through the ranks of management to become the General Manager of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway. He became Vice-President of that company in 1889 and remained as such until 1896 when he became General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) of Canada. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: James Paul Moody was a British merchant sailor, who served as sixth officer aboard RMS Titanic. He died when the ship sank on her maiden voyage in April 1912, the only junior officer not to survive the disaster. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Lieutenant William McMaster Murdoch was a British sailor who was the first officer on the RMS Titanic and the officer in charge on the bridge when the ship collided with an iceberg. He was amongst the 1,500 people who perished when the ship sank. The circumstances of his death have been the subject of controversy. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: John George "Jack" Phillips was a British wireless telegraphist, who served as the chief wireless operator aboard RMS Titanic during her ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Commander Edward John Smith was a British merchant sea captain and naval officer, who became best known as the captain of the ill-fated ocean liner RMS Titanic. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: William Thomas Stead was an English newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst editor of The Pall Mall Gazette, including his 1885 series of articles, The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon. These were written in support of a bill, later dubbed the "Stead Act", that raised the age of consent from 13 to 16. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Isidor Straus and Rosalie Ida Straus were an American couple who died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Isidor was a German-Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the state of New York. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Isidor Straus and Rosalie Ida Straus were an American couple who died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Isidor was a German-Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the state of New York. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: John Borland Thayer II was an American businessman who had a thirty-year career as an executive with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He was a director and second vice-president of the company when he died at age 49 in the sinking of the RMS Titanic, on April 15, 1912. In his youth, Thayer was also a prominent sportsman, playing baseball and lacrosse for the University of Pennsylvania and first-class cricket for the Philadelphian cricket team. Read more
• 15 Apr 1912: Victims of the Titanic disaster: Lieutenant Henry Tingle Wilde was a British Merchant Navy officer who was the chief officer of the RMS Titanic during her ill-fated maiden voyage. Wilde died during the sinking, alongside 1,500 others. Read more
• 15 Apr 1898: Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, New Zealand commander and politician Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui was a Māori military commander and noted ally of the government forces during the New Zealand Wars. First known as Te Rangihiwinui, he was later known as Te Keepa, Meiha Keepa, Major Keepa or Major Kemp. Read more
• 15 Apr 1889: Father Damien, Belgian priest and saint (born 1840) Damien De Veuster, popularly known as Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai, was a Belgian Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He ministered to a leper colony in Molokaʻi, Kingdom of Hawaii, from 1873 until his death in 1889. Read more
• 15 Apr 1888: Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (born 1822) Matthew Arnold was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother of both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator. He has been characterised as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues. He was also an inspector of schools for thirty-five years, and supported the concept of state-regulated secondary education. Read more
• 15 Apr 1865: Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (born 1809) Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederate States and playing a major role in the abolition of slavery. Read more
• 15 Apr 1861: Sylvester Jordan, Austrian-German lawyer and politician (born 1792) Franz Sylvester Jordan (1792–1861) was a German politician and lawyer. Read more
• 15 Apr 1854: Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (born 1773) Arthur Aikin was an English chemist, mineralogist and scientific writer, and was a founding member of the Chemical Society. He first became its treasurer in 1841, and later became the society's second president. Read more

Why is 15 April Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 15 April, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 15 April in World history?

On 15 April, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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