History of Today in India – 03 April

Explore the history of today 03 April in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 03 April 2026, 04:23 AM

📜 Important Events on 03 April in World History

03 Apr 2018: YouTube headquarters shooting: A 38-year-old gunwoman opens fire at YouTube Headquarters in San Bruno, California, injuring three people before committing suicide. Read more
03 Apr 2017: A bomb explodes in the St Petersburg metro system, killing 14 and injuring several more people. Read more
03 Apr 2016: The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies. Read more
03 Apr 2013: More than 50 people die in floods resulting from record-breaking rainfall in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Read more
03 Apr 2010: Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer. Read more
03 Apr 2009: Jiverly Antares Wong opens fire at the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York, killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide. Read more
03 Apr 2008: ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations. Read more
03 Apr 2008: Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS's YFZ Ranch. Eventually 533 women and children will be taken into state custody. Read more
03 Apr 2007: Conventional-Train World Speed Record: A French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record of 574.8 km/h (159.6 m/s, 357.2 mph). Read more
03 Apr 2004: Islamic terrorists involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves. Read more
03 Apr 2000: United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust law by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors. Read more
03 Apr 1997: The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas. Read more
03 Apr 1996: Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States. Read more
03 Apr 1996: A United States Air Force Boeing T-43 crashes near Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia, killing 35, including Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. Read more
03 Apr 1993: The outcome of the Grand National horse race is declared void for the first (and only) time. Read more
03 Apr 1989: The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield. Read more
03 Apr 1981: The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. Read more
03 Apr 1980: US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shivwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah. Read more
03 Apr 1975: Vietnam War: Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children in the closing stages of the war begins. Read more
03 Apr 1975: Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default. Read more
03 Apr 1974: The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second largest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured. Read more
03 Apr 1973: Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs. Read more
03 Apr 1969: Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort. Read more
03 Apr 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech; he was assassinated the next day. Read more
03 Apr 1961: LAN-Chile Flight 621 crashes in the Andes mountains, killing 21 people, including Argentinian football player Eliseo Mouriño. Read more
03 Apr 1956: Hudsonville–Standale tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado. Read more
03 Apr 1955: The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges. Read more
03 Apr 1948: Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries. Read more
03 Apr 1948: In Jeju Province, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses known as the Jeju uprising begins. Read more
03 Apr 1946: Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March. Read more
03 Apr 1942: World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Read more
03 Apr 1936: Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of pilot Charles Lindbergh. Read more
03 Apr 1933: First flight over Mount Everest, the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston. Read more
03 Apr 1922: Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Read more
03 Apr 1920: Attempts are made to carry out the failed assassination attempt on General Mannerheim, led by Aleksander Weckman by order of Eino Rahja, during the White Guard parade in Tampere, Finland. Read more
03 Apr 1905: Association football club Boca Juniors is founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina Read more
03 Apr 1895: The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality. Read more
03 Apr 1888: Jack the Ripper: The first of 11 unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs. Read more
03 Apr 1885: Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for a light, high-speed, four-stroke engine, which he uses seven months later to create the world's first motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen. Read more
03 Apr 1882: American Old West: Robert Ford kills Jesse James. Read more
03 Apr 1865: American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. Read more
03 Apr 1860: The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins. Read more
03 Apr 1851: Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand after the death of his half-brother, Rama III. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 03 April in World History

03 Apr 1999: Chanel Harris-Tavita, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player Chanel Harris-Tavita is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a five-eighth or halfback for the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League (NRL). Read more
03 Apr 1998: Paris Jackson, American actress, model and singer Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson is an American model, actress, and singer. She is the daughter of Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe. In 2020, Jackson signed a deal with Republic Records. Her debut album, Wilted, was released the same year. Read more
03 Apr 1997: Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian footballer Gabriel Fernando de Jesus is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Arsenal and the Brazil national team. Read more
03 Apr 1997: Zhao Xintong, Chinese snooker player Zhao Xintong is a Chinese professional snooker player from Bao'an, Shenzhen, in Guangdong. He is the reigning World Snooker Champion and the sport's first World Champion from Asia. Read more
03 Apr 1996: Mayo Hibi, Japanese tennis player Mayo Hibi is a Japanese former professional tennis player. Read more
03 Apr 1994: Kodi Nikorima, New Zealand rugby league player Kodi Nikorima is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a five-eighth for the Dolphins in the National Rugby League (NRL) and as a hooker for New Zealand. Read more
03 Apr 1994: Dylann Roof, American mass murderer Dylann Storm Roof is an American mass murderer, white supremacist, and neo-Nazi who perpetrated the Charleston church shooting. During a Bible study on June 17, 2015, at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Roof murdered nine people and injured a tenth, all African Americans, including senior pastor and state senator Clementa C. Pinckney. After several people identified Roof as the main suspect, he became the center of a manhunt that ended the morning after the shooting with his arrest in Shelby, North Carolina. He later confessed that he committed the shooting in hopes of igniting a race war. Roof's actions in Charleston have been widely described as domestic terrorism. Read more
03 Apr 1993: Pape Moussa Konaté, Senegalese footballer Moussa Konaté is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Senegal national team. Read more
03 Apr 1992: Simone Benedetti, Italian footballer Simone Benedetti is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Serie D club Derthona. Read more
03 Apr 1992: Yuliya Yefimova, Russian swimmer Yuliya Andreyevna Yefimova is a Russian competitive swimmer. She is the Russian record holder in the 200 metre individual medley, 50 metre breaststroke, 100 metre breaststroke, and 200 metre breaststroke. After making her Olympic debut in 2008, she went on to win the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke in 2012, and silver medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke in 2016. She is a six-time World Champion, winning the 50 metre breaststroke in 2009 and 2013, the 100 metre breaststroke in 2015, and the 200 metre breaststroke in 2013, 2017, and 2019. In 2019, she became the first woman to win the 200 metre breaststroke at a FINA World Aquatics Championships three times. She is a former world record holder in the long course 50 metre breaststroke. She has won 109 medals, including 48 gold medals, at Swimming World Cups. Read more
03 Apr 1991: Hayley Kiyoko, American actress and singer Hayley Kiyoko Alcroft is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and author. As an actress, she has appeared in a variety of films, including Lemonade Mouth (2011), Jem and the Holograms (2015), Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015), and XOXO (2016). She also had recurring roles in the TV series Wizards of Waverly Place (2010) and The Fosters (2014) and lead roles in CSI: Cyber (2015–2016) and Five Points (2018–2019). Read more
03 Apr 1990: Karim Ansarifard, Iranian footballer Karim Adil Ansarifard is an Iranian former professional footballer who played as a forward. His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to Ali Daei and he has been named Daei's "successor". Read more
03 Apr 1990: Madison Brengle, American tennis player Madison Brengle is an American professional tennis player. Her biggest success came in early 2015 when she reached her first WTA Tour final in January, followed by a fourth round major event appearance at the Australian Open. In May of that year, she reached her career-high singles ranking of No. 35. Read more
03 Apr 1990: Sotiris Ninis, Greek footballer Sotiris Ninis is a Greek former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a right winger. Ninis was formerly a member of the Greece national team. Read more
03 Apr 1990: Natasha Negovanlis, Canadian actress and singer Natasha Negovanlis is a Canadian actress, writer, producer, and singer. She achieved international recognition for portraying Carmilla Karnstein in the YouTube web series Carmilla (2014–2016) and in the 2017 feature film based on the series. Read more
03 Apr 1989: Romain Alessandrini, French footballer Romain Alessandrini is a French former professional footballer who played as a winger. Read more
03 Apr 1989: Israel Folau, Australian rugby player and footballer Israel ‘Isileli Folau is a professional rugby union player, a former Australian rules football and former professional rugby league footballer. He plays as a fullback for Japan Rugby League One club Urayasu D-Rocks. Born in Australia, he played rugby league for Australia, and rugby union for Australia and Tonga after qualifying on ancestry grounds. Read more
03 Apr 1989: Joel Romelo, Australian rugby league player Joel Romelo is a former Australian professional rugby league footballer who previously played for the Penrith Panthers, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm in the NRL. He primarily played at hooker but could fill in at five-eighth and halfback. Romelo is of Indigenous Australian and Italian descent. Read more
03 Apr 1989: Thisara Perera, Sri Lankan cricketer Narangoda Liyanaarachchige Thisara Chirantha Perera, popularly known as Thisara Perera, is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer who played all formats for the national team. He also captained the team in limited-overs formats. Domestically he plays for Sri Lanka Army Sports Club in the Premier Trophy and Premier Limited-Overs Tournament, and the Jaffna Stallions in the Lanka Premier League. Perera has played franchise T20 cricket all around the world for numerous leagues. Primarily a bowling all-rounder, he is an aggressive left-handed batsman who can hit big sixes in death overs and is a useful right-arm medium-fast bowler. Read more
03 Apr 1988: Kam Chancellor, American football player Kameron Darnel Chancellor, nicknamed "Bam Bam Kam", is an American former professional football safety who spent his entire nine-year career with the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies prior to being selected by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL draft. A four-time Pro Bowler, he was one of the key members of their Legion of Boom secondary. He also helped lead the Seahawks to victory in Super Bowl XLVIII. Chancellor retired following complications from a neck injury he suffered in 2017. Read more
03 Apr 1988: Brandon Graham, American football player Brandon Lee Graham is an American professional football defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, earning first-team All-American honors in 2009. Graham was selected by the Eagles in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft with the 13th overall selection and the first from the Big Ten Conference. Read more
03 Apr 1988: Peter Hartley, English footballer Peter Hartley is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Read more
03 Apr 1988: Tim Krul, Dutch footballer Timothy Michael Krul is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
03 Apr 1987: Rachel Bloom, American actress, writer, and producer Rachel Leah Bloom is an American actress, comedian, singer, writer, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring as Rebecca Bunch in The CW musical comedy-drama series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015–2019). The role has won her numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a TCA Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Read more
03 Apr 1987: Jay Bruce, American baseball player Jay Allen Bruce is an American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. The Reds drafted Bruce in the first round with the 12th overall pick of the 2005 MLB draft, and he made his MLB debut in 2008. He was named an All-Star three times and won two Silver Slugger Awards. Read more
03 Apr 1987: Yileen Gordon, Australian rugby league player Yileen "Buddy" Gordon is an Australian rugby league footballer who played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NSW Cup. Gordon formerly played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Penrith Panthers. He was sacked by the West Tigers in February, 2014 for breach of contract. He played in the Centres and has previously played in the back-row or at centre. Read more
03 Apr 1987: Jason Kipnis, American baseball player Jason Michael Kipnis is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs. He attended Glenbrook North High School in the suburbs of Chicago where he earned three letters playing baseball for the Glenbrook North Spartans. He attended the University of Kentucky, but transferred to Arizona State University after two years. In college, Kipnis was an All-American and the 2009 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year for the Sun Devils. Read more
03 Apr 1987: Martyn Rooney, English sprinter Martyn Joseph Rooney is an English sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres event. He reached the 400 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the 4 × 400 metres relay. A mainstay on the anchor leg of the Great Britain and England 4 × 400 metre relay teams, at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics he won a silver medal with the Great Britain relay team, and bronze in the 2015 and 2017 World Championships. Read more
03 Apr 1987: Julie Sokolow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Julie Sokolow is an American film director, musician, and writer. Her body of work includes documentary films, personal essays, and musical compositions. She directed the films Barefoot: The Mark Baumer Story (2019), Woman on Fire (2016), Aspie Seeks Love (2015), and the Healthy Artists series (2012-4). She first came to public attention with her music album Something About Violins (2006). Read more
03 Apr 1987: Yuval Spungin, Israeli footballer Yuval Spungin is an Israeli footballer who plays for Hapoel Kfar Shalem. He has played for the Israel national under-17 football team, the Israel national under-18 football team, the Israel national under-19 football team, the Israel national under-21 football team, and the Israel national football team. He won a gold medal with Team Israel in the 2005 Maccabiah Games. He has also played for Maccabi Tel Aviv, AC Omonia, RAEC Mons, Ironi Kiryat Shmona, F.C. Ashdod, and Hapoel Marmorek. Read more
03 Apr 1986: Amanda Bynes, American actress Amanda Laura Bynes is an American former actress. Known for playing comedic roles, Bynes is known for her television work in the 1990s and her successful pivot to film in the 2000s. Read more
03 Apr 1986: Stephanie Cox, American soccer player Stephanie Renee Cox is an American soccer coach and former professional player who played as a defender. She is currently the head coach of the Puget Sound Loggers women's soccer team. Read more
03 Apr 1986: Annalisa Cucinotta, Italian cyclist Annalisa Cucinotta is an Italian former professional road and track cyclist. She represented her nation at the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. Read more
03 Apr 1986: Sergio Sánchez Ortega, Spanish footballer Sergio Sánchez Ortega is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as either a right-back or a central defender. Read more
03 Apr 1985: Jari-Matti Latvala, Finnish race car driver Jari-Matti Johannes Latvala is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 Rally Catalunya. He is well known for his aggressive driving style, which earns him many plaudits, and comparisons to the late Colin McRae. With 18 event victories in the WRC, he is one of the most successful drivers to not have won a championship. Latvala is also the driver with the most World Rally starts in the sport which he achieved in 2019, 17 years after his debut. Read more
03 Apr 1985: Leona Lewis, English singer-songwriter and producer Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer, songwriter, and actress. Born and raised in London, she later attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved national recognition when she won the third series of the ITV talent show The X Factor in 2006, winning a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music. Her winner's single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and broke a world record by reaching 50,000 digital downloads within 30 minutes. In February 2007, Lewis signed a five-album contract in the United States with Clive Davis's record label, J Records. Read more
03 Apr 1984: Jonathan Blondel, Belgian footballer Jonathan Blondel is a Belgian former footballer who last played as a midfielder. Read more
03 Apr 1984: Maxi López, Argentinian footballer Maximiliano Gastón López is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He holds both an Argentine and an Italian passport. He is known as El Rubio, and La Gallina de Oro. Read more
03 Apr 1983: Ben Foster, English footballer Ben Anthony Foster is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
03 Apr 1983: Stephen Weiss, Canadian ice hockey player Stephen Weiss is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who most recently played for the Detroit Red Wings, as well as the Florida Panthers, who drafted him fourth overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. Weiss held the Panthers franchise records for games played and led the franchise in assists when he retired. Read more
03 Apr 1982: Jared Allen, American football player Jared Scot Allen is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. A five-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro selection, he recorded 136 career sacks. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2025. Read more
03 Apr 1982: Iain Fyfe, Australian footballer Iain Stuart Fyfe is a retired Australian A-League professional footballer. Read more
03 Apr 1982: Cobie Smulders, Canadian actress Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS series How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero franchise, starting with the film The Avengers (2012), through the television miniseries Secret Invasion (2023). Read more
03 Apr 1981: Aaron Bertram, American trumpet player Aaron Bertram is a trumpet player for third wave ska band Suburban Legends, and member of the children's music group Kids Imagine Nation. In the past he has taught music and movement to preschool students in Orange County, CA. His music program was called Little Rockstars. He launched an online Streaming Service for Children's Entertainment and Arts Education called KINTV in March of 2020, where he currently performs and teaches music. Read more
03 Apr 1981: DeShawn Stevenson, American basketball player DeShawn Stevenson is an American former professional basketball player. Stevenson played for six teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) during a 13-year career. He originally committed to play at the University of Kansas, but decided to enter the NBA directly from high school and was picked by the Utah Jazz with the 23rd selection of the 2000 NBA draft. He was a member of the Dallas Mavericks team that won an NBA championship in 2011. In 2017, Stevenson joined Power, one of the eight BIG3 basketball league teams. Read more
03 Apr 1980: Andrei Lodis, Belarusian footballer Andrei Nikolayevich Lodis is a Belarusian former professional football player. Read more
03 Apr 1980: Megan Rohrer, American pastor and transgender activist Megan Rohrer is an American activist for homeless and LGBTQ+ rights and former Lutheran bishop. Rohrer is the first openly transgender minister ordained in the Lutheran tradition and a successful author and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in 2012 for "Letters For My Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect." As an historian, Rohrer has written the book San Francisco's Transgender District. Following their reception as a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 2010, they served the church as bishop of its Sierra Pacific Synod from 2021 until June 2022. Read more
03 Apr 1979: Simon Black, Australian footballer and coach Simon Black is a former Australian rules football player and current assistant coach, who played his whole career with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Read more
03 Apr 1978: Matthew Goode, English actor Matthew William Goode is an English actor. He made his screen debut in 2002 with ABC's television film Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. His breakthrough role was in the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty (2004), for which he received a nomination at the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Breakout Movie Star – Male. He then appeared in a string of supporting roles in films, such as Woody Allen's Match Point (2005), the romantic comedy Imagine Me and You (2006), and the period drama Copying Beethoven (2006). He earned praise for his performances as Charles Ryder in the 2008 film adaptation of the novel Brideshead Revisited and as Ozymandias in the superhero film Watchmen (2009). He then starred in the romantic comedy Leap Year (2010) and Australian drama Burning Man (2011), the latter earnt him nominations for Best Actor at both the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards and the AACTA Awards. Read more
03 Apr 1978: Tommy Haas, German-American tennis player Thomas Mario Haas is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017, and was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in May 2002. Haas won 15 career titles in singles, including a Masters title at the 2001 Stuttgart Masters, and a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He reached the semifinals of the Australian Open three times, and in Wimbledon once. He reached the quarterfinal stage at each of the majors. Read more
03 Apr 1978: John Smit, South African rugby player John William Smit, OIS, is a South African former professional rugby union player and former chief executive officer of the Sharks. He was the 50th captain of the Springbok rugby union team and led the team to win the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He played most of his senior career as a hooker, but also won 13 caps as a prop, where he had also played for South Africa's under-21 team. He retired from international rugby following the 2011 Rugby World Cup as the most-capped South African player ever, with 111 appearances. Read more
03 Apr 1976: Nicolas Escudé, French tennis player Nicolas Jean-Christophe Escudé is a former professional tennis player from France, who turned professional in 1995. He won four singles titles and two doubles titles during his career. Read more
03 Apr 1975: Shawn Bates, American ice hockey player Shawn William Bates is an American former professional ice hockey center. He played in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders. Read more
03 Apr 1975: Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian-American basketball player Michael Olowokandi is a Nigerian former professional basketball player. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in London, he played collegiately for the Pacific Tigers in Stockton, California. Nicknamed "the Kandi Man," Olowokandi was selected as the first overall pick of the 1998 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He played professionally until 2007, when he was forced to retire due to severe hernia and knee injuries. Read more
03 Apr 1975: Aries Spears, American comedian and actor Nairobi Aries Spears is an American stand-up comedian, impressionist, and actor from New Jersey. Spears was a regular on Fox's sketch comedy series Mad TV (1997–2005), appearing in eight seasons. In 2011, he released a special called Aries Spears: Hollywood, Look I'm Smiling. and in 2018 and 2020, he co-hosted the AVN Awards. Read more
03 Apr 1975: Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japanese baseball player Yoshinobu Takahashi is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager. He spent his entire playing career with the Yomiuri Giants and served as the team's manager for three seasons. He graduated from Keio University. Read more
03 Apr 1975: Koji Uehara, Japanese baseball player Koji Uehara is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), as well as the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). Read more
03 Apr 1974: Marcus Brown, American basketball player Marcus Brown is an American former professional basketball player. At 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall, he played as a shooting guard. A three time All-EuroLeague selection, Brown has been mentioned as being one of the top U.S. players ever to play abroad. Brown ended his career as a player-coach with Žalgiris Kaunas in 2011. Brown was the EuroLeague's career scoring leader since the year 2000, when he ended his career in October 2011. As far as United States players only are concerned, Brown remains one of league's higher scoring players in the competition since the year 2000, when the league's current organizer took over the competition. Read more
03 Apr 1974: Lee Williams, Welsh model and actor Lee Williams is a British screen actor and former model. Read more
03 Apr 1973: Nilesh Kulkarni, Indian cricketer Nilesh Moreshwar Kulkarni is a former Indian cricketer. He is a slow left-arm bowler and left-handed lower order batsman who stood large at 6 ft 4 inches (193 cm). Read more
03 Apr 1973: Adam Scott, American actor Adam Paul Scott is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Ben Wyatt in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (2010–2015), for which he was twice nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award, as well as Mark Scout in the Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller series Severance, for which he was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards – two for acting and two for producing – and two Golden Globe Awards. Read more
03 Apr 1972: Jennie Garth, American actress and director Jennifer Eve Garth is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise and Val Tyler on the sitcom What I Like About You (2002–06). In 2012, she starred in her own reality show, Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country on CMT. Her memoir titled Deep Thoughts From a Hollywood Blonde was published by New American Library on April 1, 2014. Read more
03 Apr 1972: Catherine McCormack, English actress Catherine Jane McCormack is an English actress. Her film appearances include Braveheart (1995), The Land Girls (1998), Dangerous Beauty (1998), Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), Spy Game (2001), and 28 Weeks Later (2007). Her theatre work includes National Theatre productions of All My Sons (2000) and Honour (2003). Read more
03 Apr 1972: Sandrine Testud, French tennis player Sandrine Testud is a former professional tennis player from France. Read more
03 Apr 1971: Vitālijs Astafjevs, Latvian footballer and manager Vitālijs Astafjevs is a Latvian professional football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is an assistant manager of Cypriot club Aris Limassol having previously held the role for the Latvia national team. Read more
03 Apr 1971: Emmanuel Collard, French race car driver Emmanuel Collard is a French professional racing driver. He is a former member of the Porsche Junioren factory team, but also drives for other marques. Read more
03 Apr 1971: Picabo Street, American skier Picabo Street is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. She won the super G at the 1998 Winter Olympics and the downhill at the 1996 World Championships, along with three other Olympic and World Championship medals. Street also won World Cup downhill season titles in 1995 and 1996, the first American woman to do so, along with nine World Cup downhill race wins. Street was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 2004. Read more
03 Apr 1969: Rodney Hampton, American football player Rodney Craig Hampton is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs and was selected by the Giants in the first round of the 1990 NFL draft. He was a starting running back for the 1990 New York Giants who finished the year at 13–3 during the regular season while winning Super Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991. Read more
03 Apr 1969: Peter Matera, Australian footballer and coach Peter Matera is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is regarded as one of the greatest West Australians and indigenous players being a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and Indigenous Team of the Century as well as being 5 time All-Australian and 2 time premiership player. Read more
03 Apr 1969: Ben Mendelsohn, Australian actor Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn is an Australian actor. He first rose to prominence in Australia for his break-out role in The Year My Voice Broke (1987). He gained international attention for his starring role in the crime drama Animal Kingdom (2010). He has since had roles in films such as The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Starred Up (2013), Lost River (2014), Mississippi Grind (2015), Darkest Hour (2017) and Ready Player One (2018). Read more
03 Apr 1969: Lance Storm, Canadian wrestler and trainer Lance Timothy Evers, known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he works as a producer. Storm is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he held a combined 14 total championships. Read more
03 Apr 1968: Sebastian Bach, Bahamian-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor Sebastian Philip Bierk, known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and has made appearances in film and television such as Trailer Park Boys, The Masked Singer and Gilmore Girls. He continues his music career as a solo artist and since 2026, as the lead singer of Twisted Sister. Read more
03 Apr 1968: Charlotte Coleman, English actress (died 2001) Charlotte Ninon Coleman was an English actress best known for playing Scarlett in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and Jess in the television drama Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1990). For the former, she was nominated for the BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and, for the latter, she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress. Her childhood roles included Sue in Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981) and the character Marmalade Atkins (1981–1984). Read more
03 Apr 1968: Jamie Hewlett, English director and performer Jamie Christopher Hewlett is a British comic book artist and illustrator. He is the co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl with Alan Martin, and the virtual band Gorillaz alongside Blur front man Damon Albarn. Read more
03 Apr 1968: Tomoaki Kanemoto, Japanese baseball player Tomoaki Kanemoto is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and manager. In his career as a player he spent 11 years with the Hiroshima Carp before moving to the Hanshin Tigers in 2003, where he spent another 10 years. He holds the world record for consecutive games played without missing an inning and consecutive innings. Read more
03 Apr 1967: Cat Cora, American chef and author Catherine Ann Cora is an American professional chef, television personality, business person, and cookbook author. She is best known for her featured role as an "Iron Chef" on Iron Chef America and as co-host of Around the World in 80 Plates. Read more
03 Apr 1967: Pervis Ellison, American basketball player Pervis Ellison is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player. Nicknamed "Never Nervous Pervis" for his clutch play with the University of Louisville, after leading Louisville to a national championship, Ellison was the first overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft. His professional career was largely hindered by injuries, though he won the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 1992. Read more
03 Apr 1967: Brent Gilchrist, Canadian ice hockey player Brent Lindsay Gilchrist is a Canadian former professional hockey player who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1988-2003. In his career, Gilchrist played 792 games, totaling 135 goals and 305 points. He appeared in 10 post-seasons in his NHL career, playing 90 games and totaling 17 goals, 14 assists and 31 points. He was a member of the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings in 1998. Read more
03 Apr 1967: Cristi Puiu, Romanian director and screenwriter Cristi Puiu is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. With Anca Puiu and Alex Munteanu, in 2004 he founded a cinema production company, naming it Mandragora. Read more
03 Apr 1967: Mark Skaife, Australian race car driver and sportscaster Mark Stephen Skaife OAM is an Australian former racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship, as well as a six-time Bathurst 1000 winner. On 29 October 2008, he announced his retirement from full-time touring car racing. Since retiring from driving, Skaife has worked as a commentator and presenter for the series for both the Seven Network and Fox Sports Australia. Read more
03 Apr 1966: John de Vries, Australian race car driver

John David de Vries is a former driver in the Indy Racing League and Australian Formula Holden. He raced in the 2002 IRL season, where he began the season with Brayton Racing. De Vries competed in the first three races, and arrived but withdrew from the Nazareth Speedway race. He attempted to qualify for the 2002 Indianapolis 500, but was not among the 33 drivers who made the field. He returned after the Indianapolis 500 to compete in the Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and logged his best career IRL finish, an eleventh place, in what would be his final IRL race. Previously, de Vries had spent four years in Formula Holden and the Australian Formula Ford Championship. Read more
03 Apr 1965: Nazia Hassan, Pakistani pop singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist (died 2000) Nazia Hassan was a Pakistani-English singer, songwriter, and philanthropist. Regarded as the "Queen of South Asian Pop,” she is considered one of the most influential musical figures in Pakistan history and is the subcontinent's first ever pop star. Starting in the 1980s, as part of the duo Nazia and Zoheb, she and her brother Zoheb Hassan, have sold over 65 million records worldwide. Read more
03 Apr 1964: Marco Ballotta, Italian footballer and manager Marco Ballotta is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
03 Apr 1964: Nigel Farage, English politician Nigel Paul Farage is a British politician who has been Leader of Reform UK since 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton since 2024. He was the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2016. Farage served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in 2020. Read more
03 Apr 1964: Claire Perry, English banker and politician Claire Louise O'Neill is a British businesswoman and former politician who previously served as Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth from 2017 to 2019 and as managing director for climate and energy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development from 2020 to 2021. Since 2022 she has been one of its directors and jointly chairs its Global Imperatives Advisory Board. Read more
03 Apr 1964: Bjarne Riis, Danish cyclist and manager Bjarne Lykkegård Riis, nicknamed The Eagle from Herning, is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who won the 1996 Tour de France, then later admitted he illegally doped 1993 – 1998. Read more
03 Apr 1964: Andy Robinson, English rugby player and coach Richard Andrew Robinson OBE is an English rugby union coach and retired player. He was the director of rugby at Bristol until November 2016. He is the former head coach of Scotland and England. From September 2019 to December 2022, he was the head coach of the Romanian national team. Read more
03 Apr 1964: Jay Weatherill, Australian politician, 45th Premier of South Australia Jay Wilson Weatherill is an Australian diplomat and former politician who was the 45th premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of the South Australian Labor Party from the 2002 election to 17 December 2018, when he retired from politics. He currently serves as the High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom. Read more
03 Apr 1963: Les Davidson, Australian rugby league player Les Davidson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and represented at both the State and national levels. His position of choice on the field was second-row or prop. Read more
03 Apr 1963: Ricky Nixon, Australian footballer and manager Ricky Lee Nixon is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL and a former sports agent. At the height of his career, he was one of the most high-profile sports agents in Australia, and a powerful figure in the AFL. Read more
03 Apr 1963: Criss Oliva, American guitarist and songwriter (died 1993) Christopher Michael Oliva was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Savatage. During his lifetime, he released seven studio albums and one EP with the band. Read more
03 Apr 1962: Dave Miley, American baseball player and manager David Allen Miley is an American former baseball player and manager. Read more
03 Apr 1962: Mike Ness, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Michael James Ness is an American musician who is the lead guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1978. He has also released two solo albums, Cheating at Solitaire and Under the Influences. Read more
03 Apr 1962: Jaya Prada, Indian actress and politician Jaya Prada Nahata is an Indian actress and politician known for her works in Telugu cinema and Hindi cinema as well as in Tamil films in late '70s, '80s and early '90s and '20s. Jayaprada is the recipient of three Filmfare Awards South and has starred in many Telugu and Hindi films along with several Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi films. She left the film industry at the peak of her career, as she joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1994 and entered politics. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh from 2004 to 2014. Read more
03 Apr 1961: Tim Crews, American baseball player (died 1993) Stanley Timothy Crews was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played six seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1987 to 1992. Crews was part of the Dodgers team that won the 1988 World Series. At the end of the 1992 season, he became a free agent and signed with the Cleveland Indians on January 22, 1993. Read more
03 Apr 1961: Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian Edward Regan Murphy is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a stand-up comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. He has received several accolades including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, and an Emmy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2023, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2026. Read more
03 Apr 1960: Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Dutch singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer, best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the guitarist and backing vocalist of Dutch heavy metal band Bodine as Iron Anthony, before joining Vengeance in 1984. After eight years he left the band, wanting to go into a more progressive direction, and released two years later an unsuccessful solo album entitled Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy under the nickname Anthony. Read more
03 Apr 1959: David Hyde Pierce, American actor and activist David Hyde Pierce is an American actor. Known for his portrayal of psychiatrist Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier from 1993 to 2004, he received four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series as well as two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Pierce has also received five Golden Globe Awards nominations for Best Supporting Actor for the role. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role of Lt. Frank Cioffi in the Broadway musical Curtains (2007). Read more
03 Apr 1958: Alec Baldwin, American actor, comedian, producer and television host Alexander Rae Baldwin III is an American comedic actor and film producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama. He has received numerous accolades including three Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and eight Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and Tony Award. Read more
03 Apr 1958: Adam Gussow, American scholar, musician, and memoirist Adam Gussow is an American blues harmonica player and author, best known as a member of Satan and Adam. Read more
03 Apr 1958: Francesca Woodman, American photographer (died 1981) Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Read more
03 Apr 1956: Kalle Kulbok, Estonian politician Kalle Kulbok is an Estonian politician. Read more
03 Apr 1956: Boris Miljković, Serbian director and producer Boris Miljković is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, creative director in advertising and writer. Read more
03 Apr 1956: Miguel Bosé, Spanish musician and actor Luis Miguel Luchino Dominguín Bosé, known professionally as Miguel Bosé, is a Spanish and Italian pop singer and actor. Read more
03 Apr 1956: Ray Combs, American game show host (died 1996) Raymond Neil Combs Jr. was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and game show host. He began his professional career in the late 1970s. His popularity on the stand-up circuit led to him being signed as the second host of the game show Family Feud in its second run and first revival. The show aired on CBS from 1988 to 1993 and was in syndication from 1988 to 1994. From 1995 to 1996, Combs hosted another game show, Family Challenge. Read more
03 Apr 1954: Elisabetta Brusa, Italian composer Elisabetta Olga Laura Brusa is an Italian/British composer. Read more
03 Apr 1954: K. Krishnasamy, Indian physician and politician K. Krishnasamy is an Indian physician, social worker and politician who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He founded the Puthiya Tamilagam party in 1999 and was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from Ottapidaram constituency in 1996 election and as Puthiya Tamilagam candidate in 2011 Alliance with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. Read more
03 Apr 1953: Sandra Boynton, American author and illustrator Sandra Keith Boynton is an American humorist, songwriter, director, music producer, children's author, and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated over eighty-five books for children and seven general audience books, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and seven music albums. She has also designed calendars, wallpaper, bedding, stationery, paper goods, clothing, jewelry, and plush toys for various companies. Read more
03 Apr 1953: Wakanohana Kanji II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 56th Yokozuna (died 2022) Wakanohana Kanji was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Ōwani, Aomori. He was the sport's 56th yokozuna. He was popular with sumo fans and was well-known for his rivalry with Kitanoumi. After retirement, he became the head coach of Magaki stable. Due to poor health, he left the Japan Sumo Association in December 2013. He died of lung cancer in July 2022 at the age of 69. Read more
03 Apr 1953: James Smith, American boxer James "Bonecrusher" Smith is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999 and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1986 to 1987. Read more
03 Apr 1952: Mike Moore, American lawyer and politician Michael Cameron Moore is an American attorney and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the Attorney General of Mississippi from 1988 to 2004. Read more
03 Apr 1951: Brendan Barber, English trade union leader Brendan Paul Barber, Baron Barber of Ainsdale, is a British trade union official and life peer. He served as chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Council until 2020. He is a former general secretary of the United Kingdom's Trades Union Congress (TUC); a post he held from June 2003 until his retirement at the end of 2012. He was appointed Acas Chair in 2014, replacing Ed Sweeney, who had been in the post since 2007. He also serves on the board of the Banking Standards Board, the Board of Transport for London (2013–), the board of Britain Stronger in Europe, the Council of City University, London and the board of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Read more
03 Apr 1951: Annette Dolphin, British academician and educator Annette Catherine Dolphin was a British scientist who was professor of pharmacology in the Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology at University College London (UCL). Read more
03 Apr 1951: Mitch Woods, American singer-songwriter and pianist Mitch Woods is an American modern day boogie-woogie, jump blues and jazz pianist and singer. Since the early 1980s he has been touring and recording with his band, the Rocket 88s. Woods calls his music, "rock-a-boogie," and with his backing band has retrospectively provided a 1940s and 1950s jump blues style. Read more
03 Apr 1950: Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan cricketer and economist Deshamanya Indrajit Coomaraswamy is a Sri Lankan economist. He served as the 14th Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Read more
03 Apr 1949: Lyle Alzado, American football player and actor (died 1992) Lyle Martin Alzado was an American professional football player who was a defensive end of the National Football League (NFL), famous for his intense and intimidating style of play. Read more
03 Apr 1949: A. C. Grayling, English philosopher and academic Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher and author. He was born in Northern Rhodesia and spent most of his childhood there and in Nyasaland. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, an independent undergraduate college in London. He is also a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, where he formerly taught. Read more
03 Apr 1949: Richard Thompson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson is an English songwriter, musician, singer and record producer. Read more
03 Apr 1948: Arlette Cousture, Canadian author and screenwriter Arlette Cousture, is a Canadian writer. She writes historical fiction, often depicting the lives of women in Quebec. Many of her novels have become best-sellers in the French language. Read more
03 Apr 1948: Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch academic, politician, and diplomat, 11th Secretary General of NATO Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a Dutch retired politician, jurist and diplomat who served as the eleventh Secretary General of NATO from January 2004 to August 2009. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which he led from March 1997 to October 2001, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2002 until December 2003 under Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. Read more
03 Apr 1948: Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, German footballer Hans-Georg "Katsche" Schwarzenbeck is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played in the Bundesliga from 1966 to 1981, appearing in 416 matches for Bayern Munich. He won six German league championships, three German Cups, one European Cup Winners' Cup, and three consecutive European Cups. Read more
03 Apr 1948: Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician, 53rd President of Mexico Carlos Salinas de Gortari is a Mexican economist and former politician who served as the 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. He is considered the frontman of Mexican neoliberalism, responsible for formulating, promoting, signing and implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement. Affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), earlier in his career he worked in the Secretariat of Programming and Budget, eventually becoming Secretary. He secured the party's nomination for the 1988 general election and was elected amid widespread accusations of electoral fraud. Read more
03 Apr 1947: Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (died 2013) Anders Erik Birger Eliasson was a Swedish composer. Read more
03 Apr 1946: Nicholas Jones, English actor Nicholas Jones is an English actor who has appeared on stage and in film and television. Read more
03 Apr 1946: Dee Murray, English bass player (died 1992) David Murray Oates, known as Dee Murray, was an English bass guitarist. He was best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band. Read more
03 Apr 1946: Marisa Paredes, Spanish film actress (died 2024) María Luisa Paredes Bartolomé, known professionally as Marisa Paredes, was a Spanish actress with a 60-year long career. She acted in more than 75 films, 80 tv shows, and 15 plays. Read more
03 Apr 1946: Hanna Suchocka, Polish politician, Prime Minister of Poland Hanna Stanisława Suchocka is a Polish politician and lawyer who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 8 July 1992 to 26 October 1993 during the presidency of Lech Wałęsa. She is the first woman to hold this post in Poland and was the 14th woman to be appointed and serve as prime minister in the world. Read more
03 Apr 1945: Doon Arbus, American author and journalist Doon Arbus is an American writer and journalist. Her debut novel is The Caretaker. Her play, Third Floor, Second Door on the Right, was produced at the Cherry Lane Theatre by the 2003 New York International Fringe Festival. Read more
03 Apr 1945: Bernie Parent, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2025) Bernard Marcel Parent was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played 13 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs between 1965 and 1979, and also spent one season in the World Hockey Association (WHA) with the Philadelphia Blazers during the 1972–73 season. Parent is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest goaltenders of all time. Read more
03 Apr 1945: Catherine Spaak, French actress (died 2022) Catherine Spaak was a French-Italian actress, singer, model, and media personality. A member of the Spaak family, she was known as an iconic "It girl" in Italy during the 1960s, becoming a star of commedia all'italiana films, before later becoming prominent as a talk show host and media personality. Read more
03 Apr 1944: Peter Colman, Australian biologist and academic Peter Malcolm Colman is the head of the structural biology division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia. Read more
03 Apr 1944: Tony Orlando, American singer Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis, known professionally as Tony Orlando, is an American pop/rock singer, songwriter, and music executive whose career spans nearly seven decades. He is best known for his work as part of Tony Orlando and Dawn. Read more
03 Apr 1943: Mario Lavista, Mexican composer (died 2021) Mario Lavista was a Mexican composer, writer and intellectual. Read more
03 Apr 1943: Jonathan Lynn, English actor, director, and screenwriter Jonathan Adam Lynn is a British-American film director, screenwriter, and actor. He directed the comedy films Clue, Nuns on the Run, My Cousin Vinny, and The Whole Nine Yards. He also co-created and co-wrote the political-satirical television series Yes Minister. Read more
03 Apr 1943: Richard Manuel, Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1986) Richard George Manuel was a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in the Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Read more
03 Apr 1943: Hikaru Saeki, Japanese admiral, the first female star officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces Hikaru Saeki is the first female admiral of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the first female in the entire Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) to achieve star rank. Originally an obstetrician-gynecologist with the degree of M.D., Saeki joined the JMSDF in 1989. After her service in several military hospitals and medical rooms aboard naval vessels, she became the first woman to head a JSDF hospital in 1997, promoted to rear admiral in 2001, and retired in 2003. Read more
03 Apr 1942: Marsha Mason, American actress Marsha Mason is an American actress and theatre director. She has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Goodbye Girl (1977), Chapter Two (1979), and Only When I Laugh (1981). The first two also won her Golden Globe Awards. She was married for 10 years (1973–1983) to the playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon, who wrote all but the first film cited above, in addition to several others in which she starred. Read more
03 Apr 1942: Wayne Newton, American singer Carson Wayne Newton, also known as Mr. Las Vegas, is an American singer and actor. One of the most popular singers in the United States from the mid-to-late 20th century, Newton remains one of the best-known entertainers in Las Vegas and has performed there since 1958, headlining since 1963. He is known by other nicknames such as "The Midnight Idol" and "Mr. Entertainment". Read more
03 Apr 1942: Billy Joe Royal, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2015) Billy Joe Royal was an American country soul singer. His most successful record was "Down in the Boondocks" in 1965. Read more
03 Apr 1941: Jan Berry, American singer-songwriter (died 2004) Jan and Dean were an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence. In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles later popularized by the Beach Boys. Read more
03 Apr 1941: Philippé Wynne, American soul singer (died 1984) Philippé Wynne was an American singer, best known for his role as a lead vocalist of The Spinners. Wynne scored notable hits such as "How Could I Let You Get Away", "The Rubberband Man", and "One of a Kind ". After leaving The Spinners, Wynne never regained the same success, although he was featured in hits by other artists such as "(Not Just) Knee Deep" by Funkadelic. Wynne died of a heart attack while performing at a nightclub. Read more
03 Apr 1939: François de Roubaix, French composer (died 1975) François de Roubaix was a French film score composer. In a decade, he created a musical style with new sounds, until his death in 1975. Read more
03 Apr 1939: Hawk Taylor, American baseball player and coach (died 2012) Robert Dale "Hawk" Taylor was an American professional baseball player who appeared in 394 games over all or part of 11 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons as a catcher and outfielder for the Milwaukee Braves, New York Mets (1964–67), California Angels (1967) and Kansas City Royals (1969–70). Born in Metropolis, Illinois, he threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 187 pounds (85 kg). Read more
03 Apr 1939: Paul Craig Roberts, American economist and politician Paul Craig Roberts is an American economist and author. He formerly held a sub-cabinet office in the United States federal government as well as teaching positions at several U.S. universities. He is a promoter of supply-side economics and an opponent of recent U.S. foreign policy. Read more
03 Apr 1938: Jeff Barry, American singer-songwriter, and producer Jeff Barry is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are "Tell Laura I Love Her", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Then He Kissed Me", "Be My Baby", "Chapel of Love", and "River Deep – Mountain High" ; "Leader of the Pack" ; "Sugar, Sugar" ; "Without Us", and "I Honestly Love You". Read more
03 Apr 1938: Phil Rodgers, American golfer (died 2018) Phil Rodgers was an American professional golfer. Read more
03 Apr 1936: Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (died 2008) James Harrell McGriff was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist and organ trio bandleader. Read more
03 Apr 1936: Harold Vick, American saxophonist and flute player (died 1987) Harold Vick was an American jazz saxophonist and flautist. Read more
03 Apr 1935: Harold Kushner, American rabbi and author (died 2023) Harold Samuel Kushner was an American rabbi, author, and lecturer. He was a member of the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism and served as the congregational rabbi of Temple Israel of Natick, in Natick, Massachusetts, for 24 years. Read more
03 Apr 1934: Pamela Allen, New Zealand children's writer and illustrator Pamela Kay Allen is a New Zealand children's writer and illustrator. She has published over 50 picture books since 1980. Sales of her books have exceeded five million copies. Read more
03 Apr 1934: Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist (died 2025) Dame Valerie Jane Morris Goodall was an English primatologist and anthropologist. Regarded as a pioneer in primate ethology, and described by many publications as "the world's preeminent chimpanzee expert", she was best known for more than six decades of field research on the social and family life of wild chimpanzees in the Kasakela chimpanzee community at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Beginning in 1960, under the mentorship of the palaeontologist Louis Leakey, Goodall's research demonstrated that chimpanzees share many key traits with humans, such as using tools, having complex emotions, forming lasting social bonds, engaging in organised warfare, and passing on knowledge across generations, which redefined the traditional view that humans are uniquely different from other animals. Read more
03 Apr 1934: Jim Parker, American football player (died 2005) James Thomas Parker was an American professional football player who was an offensive tackle and guard for the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played from 1957 to 1967, and was a member of Baltimore's NFL championship teams in 1958 and 1959. He was selected as a first-team All-Pro in nine of his 11 seasons in the NFL. Parker was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973. Read more
03 Apr 1933: Bob Dornan, American politician Robert Kenneth Dornan is an American actor, radio talk show host, combat veteran, and Republican politician from California. Dornan represented two Southern California districts in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1983 and from 1985 to 1997, where he became known as a "leading firebrand" on the party's conservative wing. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in 1982 and for President of the United States in 1996. Read more
03 Apr 1933: Rod Funseth, American golfer (died 1985) James Rodney Funseth was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour. Read more
03 Apr 1931: William Bast, American screenwriter and author (died 2015) William Bast was an American screenwriter and author. In addition to writing scripts for motion pictures and television, he was the author of two biographies of the screen actor James Dean. He often worked with his partner, Paul Huson. Read more
03 Apr 1930: Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida (died 1998) Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. was an American politician and military officer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Florida from 1971 to 1989 and as the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 until his death in 1998. Read more
03 Apr 1930: Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 2017) Helmut Josef Michael Kohl was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the Federal Republic from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998 and oversaw the end of the Cold War, the German reunification and the creation of the European Union (EU). Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longest in German post-war history and is the longest for any democratically elected chancellor of Germany. Read more
03 Apr 1930: Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Argentinian general and politician (died 2015) Mario Benjamin Menéndez was the Argentine governor of the Falklands during the 1982 Argentine occupation of the islands. He also served in the Argentine Army. Menéndez surrendered Argentine forces to British armed forces during the Falklands War. Read more
03 Apr 1930: Wally Moon, American baseball player and coach (died 2018) Wallace Wade Moon was an American professional baseball outfielder in Major League Baseball. Moon played his 12-year career in the major leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals (1954–1958) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–1965). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Read more
03 Apr 1929: Fazlur Rahman Khan, Bangladeshi engineer and architect, co-designed the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center (died 1982) Fazlur Rahman Khan was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrapers. Considered the "father of tubular designs" for high-rises, Khan was also a pioneer in computer-aided design (CAD). He was the designer of the Sears Tower, since renamed Willis Tower, the tallest building in the world from 1973 until 1998, and the 100-story John Hancock Center. Read more
03 Apr 1929: Poul Schlüter, Danish lawyer and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Denmark (died 2021) Poul Holmskov Schlüter was a Danish politician who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1982 to 1993. He was the first member of the Conservative People's Party to become prime minister, as well as the first conservative to hold the office since 1901. Schlüter was a member of the Folketing for the Conservative People's Party from 1964 to 1994. He was also Chairman of the Conservative People's Party from 1974 to 1977 and from 1981 to 1993. Read more
03 Apr 1928: Don Gibson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2003) Donald Eugene Gibson was an American country singer and songwriter. Gibson wrote such country standards as the ballad "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1956 until the late '70s, including number ones on the US Country Chart with Oh Lonesome Me and Blue Blue Day, both tracks he also wrote. Read more
03 Apr 1928: Emmett Johns, Canadian priest, founded Dans la Rue (died 2018) Emmett Mathias Joseph Johns, was a Canadian priest and humanitarian. He was the founder of Dans la Rue, a homeless shelter and support group for street youth in Montreal, Quebec. Read more
03 Apr 1928: Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (died 2015) Earl Francis Lloyd was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was the first African American player to play a game in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Read more
03 Apr 1928: Jennifer Paterson, English chef and television personality (died 1999) Jennifer Mary Paterson was a British celebrity cook, author, actress and television personality who appeared on the television programme Two Fat Ladies (1996–1999) with Clarissa Dickson Wright. Prior to this, she wrote cookery columns for The Spectator and for The Oldie. Read more
03 Apr 1927: Wesley A. Brown, American general and engineer (died 2012) Wesley Anthony Brown was the first African-American graduate of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis, Maryland. He served in the United States Navy from May 2, 1949, until June 30, 1969. He was involved in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Read more
03 Apr 1926: Alex Grammas, American baseball player, manager, and coach (died 2019) Alexander Peter Grammas was an American professional baseball infielder, manager and coach. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Grammas played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Redlegs and Chicago Cubs. He threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 175 pounds (79 kg). Grammas's family origins are from Agios Dimitrios, Greece. Read more
03 Apr 1926: Gus Grissom, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (died 1967) Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom was an American engineer and pilot in the United States Air Force, as well as one of the original Mercury Seven selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for Project Mercury, a program to train and launch astronauts into outer space. Grissom went on to be a Project Gemini and Apollo program astronaut for NASA. As a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps, Grissom was the second American to fly in space in 1961. He was also the second American to fly in space twice, preceded only by Joe Walker with his sub-orbital X-15 flights. Read more
03 Apr 1925: Tony Benn, English pilot and politician, Secretary of State for Industry (died 2014) Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, known between 1960 and 1963 as The Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol South East and Chesterfield for 47 of the 51 years between 1950 and 2001. He later served as President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 to 2014. Read more
03 Apr 1924: Marlon Brando, American actor and director (died 2004) Marlon Brando Jr. was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential performers in the history of cinema, he has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, three BAFTAs, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Brando is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting to mainstream audiences. Read more
03 Apr 1924: Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (died 1945) Roza Georgiyevna Shanina was a Soviet sniper during World War II who was credited with over 50 kills. Shanina volunteered for the military after the death of her brother in 1941 and chose to be a sniper on the front line. Praised for her shooting accuracy, Shanina was capable of precisely hitting enemy personnel and making doublets. Read more
03 Apr 1923: Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (died 2013) Daniel Gerard Hoffman was an American poet, essayist, and academic. He was appointed the twenty-second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1973. Read more
03 Apr 1922: Yevhen Bulanchyk, Ukrainian hurdler (died 1996) Yevgeniy Bulanchik was a Ukrainian and Soviet former athlete who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics. Honoured Master of Sports (1955), Honoured Coach of Ukraine (1962), Honoured Coach of the Soviet Union (1968), Doctor Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences (1975). Docent of the Kyiv Institute of Physical Culture, Department of Athletics (1974–1984). 11x Soviet champion. First coach Z.Synytskyi. Bulanchyk coached the European champion Vyacheslav Skomorokhov. Bulanchyk was a Ukrainian republican coach in athletics (1958–1980) and a Soviet national coach in athletics (1960–76). Read more
03 Apr 1922: Doris Day, American singer and actress (died 2019) Doris Day was an American actress and singer. With an entertainment career that spanned nearly 50 years, Day was one of the most popular and acclaimed female singers of the 1940s and 1950s, with a parallel career as a leading actress in Hollywood films, where she became one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1960s. She was known for her on-screen girl next door image and her distinctive singing voice. Read more
03 Apr 1921: Robert Karvelas, American actor (died 1991) Robert Karvelas was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Larabee in the television series Get Smart (1965–1970). Read more
03 Apr 1921: Jan Sterling, American actress (died 2004) Jan Sterling was an American film, television and stage actress. At her most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty (1954) as well as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Her best performance is often considered to be opposite Kirk Douglas, as the opportunistic wife in Billy Wilder's 1951 Ace in the Hole. Although her career declined during the 1960s, she continued to play occasional television and theatre roles. Read more
03 Apr 1920: Stan Freeman, American composer and conductor (died 2001) Stanley Freeman was an American composer, pianist, lyricist, musical arranger, conductor, and studio musician. Read more
03 Apr 1920: Yoshibayama Junnosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 43rd Yokozuna (died 1977) Yoshibayama Junnosuke , real name Ikeda Junnosuke , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Atsuta District, Hokkaido. He was the sport's 43rd yokozuna. He suffered a number of injuries and only won one tournament championship, but was a popular wrestler. He was a runner-up five times, and earned three special prizes and two gold stars in his top division career. After his retirement in 1958 he revived and led the Miyagino stable until his death in 1977. Read more
03 Apr 1919: Ervin Drake, American songwriter and composer (died 2015) Ervin Drake was an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as "I Believe" and "It Was a Very Good Year". He wrote in a variety of styles and his work has been recorded by musicians around the world. In 1983, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Read more
03 Apr 1919: Clairette Oddera, French-Canadian actress and singer (died 2008) Claire Françoise Oddera,, sometimes stated as simply Claire Oderra and better known as Clairette, was a Quebec-based French actress and singer. After her own career slowed down she became the proprietor of Montreal's "Chez Clairette" nightclub. In later life she received official honors for her cultural influence in giving a career break to many up-and-coming entertainers who later became famous. Read more
03 Apr 1918: Mary Anderson, American actress (died 2014) Mary Bebe Anderson was an American actress, who appeared in 31 films and 22 television productions between 1939 and 1965. She was best known for her small supporting role in the film Gone With the Wind as well as one of the main characters in Alfred Hitchcock's 1944 film Lifeboat. Read more
03 Apr 1918: Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (died 2000) Louis Applebaum was a Canadian film score composer, administrator, and conductor. Read more
03 Apr 1916: Herb Caen, American journalist and author (died 1997) Herbert Eugene Caen was a San Francisco humorist and journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, and offbeat puns and anecdotes—"A continuous love letter to San Francisco"—appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle for almost sixty years and made him a household name throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Read more
03 Apr 1916: Cliff Gladwin, English cricketer (died 1988) Clifford Gladwin was an English first-class cricketer who played for Derbyshire from 1939 to 1958 and in eight Tests for England from 1947 to 1949. He took over 1,600 first-class wickets. Read more
03 Apr 1916: Louis Guglielmi, Catalan composer (died 1991) Louis Guglielmi, known by his pen name Louiguy, was a French musician. He wrote the melody for Édith Piaf's lyrics of "La Vie en rose" and the Latin jazz composition "Cerisier rose et pommier blanc", a popular song written in 1950, made famous in English as "Cherry Pink ", which was recast as a resounding mambo hit for Pérez Prado. Read more
03 Apr 1915: Piet de Jong, Dutch politician and naval officer, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (died 2016) Petrus Jozef Sietse "Piet" de Jong was a Dutch politician and naval officer who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1967 to 1971. He was a member of the Catholic People's Party (KVP), later merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). Read more
03 Apr 1915: İhsan Doğramacı, Turkish physician and academic (died 2010) İhsan Doğramacı was a Turkish paediatrician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, educationalist and college administrator of Iraqi Turkmen descent born in modern Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq then part of the Ottoman Empire. Read more
03 Apr 1914: Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2008) Raymond Getliffe was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. Born in Galt, Ontario, he played with the Saint John St. Peters. At the time of his death, he was believed to be the oldest living former Montreal Canadiens player. Getliffe's name is on the Stanley Cup twice, for 1939 with Boston and 1944 with Montreal. On February 6, 1943, while playing for the Canadiens he scored five goals in one game. Read more
03 Apr 1914: Sam Manekshaw, Indian field marshal (died 2008) Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, also known as Sam Bahadur, was an Indian Army general officer who was the Chief of the army staff during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, and the first Indian army officer to be promoted to the rank of field marshal. His active military career spanned four decades, beginning with service in World War II. Read more
03 Apr 1913: Per Borten, Norwegian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (died 2005) was a Norwegian politician from the Centre Party and the prime minister of Norway from 1965 to 1971. Per Borten is credited for leading the modernization of what was then named Bondepartiet into today's Centre Party. He was an active opponent of Norway joining the European Union. Read more
03 Apr 1912: Dorothy Eden, New Zealand-English author (died 1982)

Dorothy Enid Eden was a New Zealand novelist and short story writer, principally in the Gothic genre. Read more
03 Apr 1912: Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (died 1963) Grigoris Lambrakis was a Greek politician, physician, athlete, and lecturer. He participated in track and field sports and was a member of the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Athens. A member of the Greek resistance to Axis rule during World War II, he later became a prominent anti-war activist. His assassination by right-wing zealots that were covertly supported by the police and military provoked mass protests and led to a political crisis. Read more
03 Apr 1911: Nanette Bordeaux, Canadian-American actress (died 1956) Hélène Olivine Veilleux, known professionally as Nanette Bordeaux, was a French Canadian-born American film actress. Bordeaux made over 15 film appearances between 1942 and 1956. Read more
03 Apr 1911: Michael Woodruff, English-Scottish surgeon and academic (died 2001) Sir Michael Francis Addison Woodruff, was an English surgeon and scientist principally remembered for his research into organ transplantation. Though born in London, Woodruff spent his youth in Australia, where he earned degrees in electrical engineering and medicine. Having completed his studies shortly after the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Australian Army Medical Corps, but was soon captured by Japanese forces and imprisoned in the Changi Prison Camp. While there, he devised an ingenious method of extracting nutrients from agricultural wastes to prevent malnutrition among his fellow POWs. Read more
03 Apr 1911: Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish-American runner (died 1980) Stanisława Walasiewicz, also known as Stefania Walasiewicz, and Stella Walsh, was a Polish-American track and field athlete, who became a women's Olympic champion in the 100 metres. Born in Poland and raised in the United States, she became an American citizen in 1947. Read more
03 Apr 1910: Ted Hook, Australian public servant (died 1990) Edwin John "Ted" Hook was a senior Australian public servant best known for his time as Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department in the 1960s. Read more
03 Apr 1905: Robert Sink, American general (died 1965) Robert Frederick Sink was an American soldier who served as an officer in the United States Army from 1927 to 1961. His most notable command was of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II, which fought in Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, and the Western Allied invasion of Germany. He also served as an assistant division commander during the Korean War, and held an array of high-ranking staff positions until his retirement as a lieutenant general. Read more
03 Apr 1904: Iron Eyes Cody, American actor and stuntman (died 1999) Iron Eyes Cody was an American actor who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films, including the role of Chief Iron Eyes in Bob Hope's The Paleface (1948). He also played a Native American shedding a tear about pollution in one of the country's most well-known television public service announcements from the group Keep America Beautiful. Living in Hollywood, he began to insist, even in his private life, that he was Native American, over time claiming membership in several different tribes. In 1996, Cody's half-sister said that he was of Italian ancestry, but he denied it. After his death, it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage and not Native American at all. Read more
03 Apr 1904: Sally Rand, American dancer (died 1979) Sally Rand was an American burlesque dancer, stripper, vedette, and actress, famous for her ostrich-feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck. Read more
03 Apr 1904: Russel Wright, American furniture designer (died 1976) Russel Wright was an American industrial designer. His best-selling ceramic dinnerware was credited with encouraging the general public to enjoy creative modern design at table with his many other ranges of furniture, accessories, and textiles. The Russel and Mary Wright Design Gallery at Manitoga in upstate New York records how the "Wrights shaped modern American lifestyle". Read more
03 Apr 1903: Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Indian social reformer and freedom fighter (died 1988) Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was an Indian social reformer. She worked for the promotion of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India to uplift the socio-economic standard of Indian women. She was the first woman in India to contest in elections from Madras Constituency, but lost. Read more
03 Apr 1900: Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (died 1987) Camille Nimr Chamoun was a Lebanese politician and za'im who served as the 2nd president of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958. He was one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War. Read more
03 Apr 1900: Albert Walsh, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (died 1958) Sir Albert Joseph Walsh was Commissioner of Home Affairs and Education and chief justice of the Dominion of Newfoundland, and its first lieutenant governor upon its admission to the Canadian Confederation on 1 April 1949. Read more
03 Apr 1898: David Jack, English footballer and manager (died 1958) David Bone Nightingale Jack was an English footballer who played as an inside forward. He scored 267 goals from 490 appearances in the Football League playing for Plymouth Argyle, Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal. He was the first footballer to be transferred for a fee in excess of £10,000, was the first to score at Wembley – in the 1923 FA Cup Final – and was capped nine times for England. After retiring as a player, he managed Southend United, Middlesbrough and Shelbourne. Read more
03 Apr 1898: George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (died 1981) George Albert "Georgie" Jessel was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and film producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies. He was widely known by his nickname, the "Toastmaster General of the United States," for his frequent role as the master of ceremonies at political and entertainment gatherings. Jessel originated the title role in the stage production of The Jazz Singer. Read more
03 Apr 1898: Henry Luce, American publisher, co-founded Time magazine (died 1967) Henry Robinson Luce was an American magazine publisher who founded Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. He built one of the first multimedia corporations, combining print, radio, and newsreels, and promoted the idea of the "American Century", envisioning the United States as a global leader. Read more
03 Apr 1897: Joe Kirkwood Sr., Australian golfer (died 1970) Joseph Henry Kirkwood Sr. was a professional golfer who is acknowledged as having put Australian golf on the world map. Read more
03 Apr 1897: Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, Greek general (died 1989) Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos was a distinguished Hellenic Army Lieutenant General who served in World War I, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, World War II and the Greek Civil War, rising to become Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff. He also served as Greece's Ambassador to Yugoslavia. Read more
03 Apr 1895: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian-American composer and educator (died 1968) Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In 1939 he emigrated to the United States and became a film composer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for some 200 Hollywood movies for the next fifteen years. He also wrote concertos for Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky. Read more
03 Apr 1895: Zez Confrey, American pianist and composer (died 1971) Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey was an American composer and performer of novelty piano and jazz music. His most noted works were "Kitten on the Keys" and "Dizzy Fingers." Studying at the Chicago Musical College and becoming enthralled by French impressionists played a critical role in how he composed and performed music. Read more
03 Apr 1893: Leslie Howard, English actor (died 1943) Leslie Howard Steiner a.k.a. Leslie Howard was an English actor, director, producer, and writer. He wrote many stories and articles for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair and was one of the biggest box-office draws and movie idols of the 1930s. Read more
03 Apr 1889: Grigoraș Dinicu, Romanian violinist and composer (died 1949) Grigoraș Ionică Dinicu was a Romanian violin virtuoso and composer of Roma ethnicity. He is most famous for his often-played virtuoso violin showpiece "Hora staccato" (1906) and for making popular the tune Ciocârlia, composed by his grandfather Angheluș Dinicu for nai. It is rumored that Jascha Heifetz once said that Grigoraș Dinicu was the greatest violinist he had ever heard. In the 1930s he was involved in the political movement of the Romanian Roma and was made honorary president of the "General Union of the Romanian Roma". Other well known compositions are: Hora mărțișorului, Ceasornicul and Căruța poștei. Read more
03 Apr 1888: Thomas C. Kinkaid, American admiral (died 1972) Thomas Cassin Kinkaid was an admiral in the United States Navy, known for his service during World War II. He built a reputation as a "fighting admiral" in the aircraft carrier battles of 1942 and commanded the Allied forces in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. He was Commander Allied Naval Forces and the Seventh Fleet under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific Area, where he conducted numerous amphibious operations, and commanded an Allied fleet during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of World War II and the last naval battle between battleships in history. Read more
03 Apr 1887: Ōtori Tanigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 24th Yokozuna (died 1956) Ōtori Tanigorō was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Inzai, Chiba Prefecture. He was the sport's 24th yokozuna. Read more
03 Apr 1887: Nishizō Tsukahara, Japanese admiral (died 1966) Nishizō Tsukahara , was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Read more
03 Apr 1886: Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (died 1953) Arthur "Dooley" Wilson was an American actor, singer and musician who is best remembered for his portrayal of Sam in the 1942 film Casablanca. In that romantic drama, he performs its theme song "As Time Goes By". Read more
03 Apr 1885: Allan Dwan, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1981) Allan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian and American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter. Read more
03 Apr 1885: Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (died 1954) Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher was an American cartoonist who created Mutt and Jeff, the first successful daily comic strip in the United States. Read more
03 Apr 1885: Marie-Victorin Kirouac, Canadian botanist and academic (died 1944) Brother Marie-Victorin, F.S.C., was a Canadian member of Brothers of the Christian Schools and a noted botanist in Quebec, Canada. Read more
03 Apr 1885: St John Philby, English colonial and explorer (died 1960) Harry St John Bridger Philby, CIE, also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah, was a British Arabist, advisor, explorer, writer, and a colonial intelligence officer who served as an advisor to King Abdulaziz ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia. Read more
03 Apr 1883: Ikki Kita, Japanese philosopher and author (died 1937) Ikki Kita was a Japanese author, intellectual and political philosopher who was active in early Shōwa period Japan. Drawing from an eclectic range of influences, Kita was a self-described socialist who has also been described by detractors as the "ideological father of Japanese fascism", though this has been highly contested, as his writings touched equally upon pan-Asianism, Nichiren Buddhism, fundamental human rights and egalitarianism and he was involved with Chinese revolutionary circles. While his publications were invariably censored and he ceased writing after 1923, Kita was an inspiration for elements on the far-right of Japanese politics into the 1930s, particularly his advocacy for territorial expansion and a military coup. The government saw Kita's ideas as disruptive and dangerous; in 1936 he was arrested for allegedly joining the failed coup attempt of 26 February 1936 and executed on 19 August 1937. Read more
03 Apr 1882: Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (died 1952) Philippe-Servulo Desranleau was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and the Archbishop of Sherbrooke from 1951 to 1952. Read more
03 Apr 1881: Alcide De Gasperi, Italian journalist and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1954) Alcide Amedeo Francesco De Gasperi was an Italian politician and statesman who founded the Christian Democracy party and served as prime minister of Italy in eight successive coalition governments from 1945 to 1953. Read more
03 Apr 1880: Otto Weininger, Jewish-Austrian philosopher and author (died 1903) Otto Weininger was an Austrian philosopher who in 1903 published the book Geschlecht und Charakter, which gained popularity after his suicide at the age of 23. Weininger had a strong influence on Ludwig Wittgenstein, August Strindberg, and, via his lesser-known work Über die letzten Dinge, on James Joyce. Read more
03 Apr 1876: Margaret Anglin, Canadian actress, director, and producer (died 1958) Mary Margaret Warren Anglin was a Canadian-born Broadway actress, director and producer. Encyclopædia Britannica calls her "one of the most brilliant actresses of her day." Read more
03 Apr 1876: Tomáš Baťa, Czech businessman, founded Bata Shoes (died 1932) Tomáš Baťa was a Czech entrepreneur and founder of the Bata shoe company. His career was cut short when he died in a plane accident due to bad weather. Read more
03 Apr 1875: Mistinguett, French actress and singer (died 1956) Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois, known professionally as Mistinguett, was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world. At the time of her unofficial retirement in 1955, Mistinguett had 60 years of experience under her belt. Mistinguett has been credited with performing in 31 movies, 9 shows, and 389 musical works. Read more
03 Apr 1864: Emil Kellenberger, Swiss target shooter (died 1943) Emil Kellenberger was a Swiss sport shooter who competed in the early 20th century in rifle shooting. He participated in Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and won three Olympic medals, two gold medals in the Military Rifle 3 positions and team categories and a silver medal in the Military Rifle (kneeling). However his silver medal was tied with the Danish shooter Anders Peter Nielsen. Read more
03 Apr 1860: Frederik van Eeden, Dutch psychiatrist and author (died 1932) Frederik Willem van Eeden was a late 19th-century and early 20th-century Dutch writer and psychiatrist. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers and the Significs Group, and had top billing among the editors of De Nieuwe Gids during its celebrated first few years of publication, starting in 1885. Van Eeden adopted vegetarianism in 1890 for health reasons, later promoting it as an ethical stance in works like Het Vegetariaat (1896), but gradually distanced himself from it in the early 20th century as his philosophical views shifted. Read more
03 Apr 1858: Jacob Gaudaur, Canadian rower (died 1937) Jacob Gill Gaudaur, Sr. was one of two Canadians to win the Professional World Sculling Championship. Gaudaur was born in Orillia, Ontario. His first race was when he was aged 17 years and over his career he raced more than two hundred times. His professional career started in 1880. Read more
03 Apr 1852: Talbot Baines Reed, English author (died 1893) Talbot Baines Reed was an English writer of boys' fiction who established a genre of school stories that endured into the mid-20th century. Among his best-known work is The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. He was a regular and prolific contributor to The Boy's Own Paper (B.O.P.), in which most of his fiction first appeared. Through his family's business, Reed became a prominent typefounder, and wrote a standard work on the subject: History of the Old English Letter Foundries. Read more
03 Apr 1848: Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and captain (died 1879) Agustín Arturo Prat Chacón was a Chilean Navy officer and lawyer. He was killed in the Battle of Iquique, during the War of the Pacific. During his career, Prat had taken part in several naval engagements, including battles at Papudo (1865), and at the Abtao (1866). Following his death, his name became a rallying cry for Chilean forces, and Arturo Prat has since been considered a national hero. Read more
03 Apr 1842: Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (died 1864) Ulric Dahlgren was an American military officer who served as colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was the son of Union Navy Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren and nephew to Confederate Brigadier General Charles G. Dahlgren. Read more
03 Apr 1837: John Burroughs, American botanist and author (died 1921) John Burroughs was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the conservation movement in the United States. The first of his essay collections was Wake-Robin in 1871. Read more
03 Apr 1826: Cyrus K. Holliday, American businessman (died 1900) Colonel Cyrus Kurtz Holliday was an American railroad executive who was one of the founders of the township of Topeka, Kansas, in the mid 19th century; and was Adjutant General of Kansas during the American Civil War. The title Colonel, however, was honorary. He was the first president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, as well as one of the railroad's directors for nearly 40 years, up to 1900. A number of railway locomotives have been named after him, as well as the former town of Holliday, Kansas. He was also the Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Kansas. As a Freemason, he was a member of Topeka Lodge #17 and was highly influential in the decision of moving the State Capitol to the city of Topeka. Read more
03 Apr 1823: George Derby, American lieutenant and journalist (died 1861) George Horatio Derby was an early California humorist. He attended West Point with Ulysses S. Grant. Derby used the pseudonym "John P. Squibob" and its variants "John Phoenix" and "Squibob." Derby served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. In his spare time, he wrote humorous anecdotes and burlesques, often under the guise of his pseudonyms. Read more
03 Apr 1823: William M. Tweed, American politician (died 1878) William Magear "Boss" Tweed" was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th-century New York City and State. Read more
03 Apr 1822: Edward Everett Hale, American minister, historian, and author (died 1909) Edward Everett Hale was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as "The Man Without a Country", published in Atlantic Monthly, in support of the Union during the Civil War. He was the grand-nephew of Nathan Hale, the American spy during the Revolutionary War. Read more
03 Apr 1814: Lorenzo Snow, American religious leader, 5th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (died 1901) Lorenzo Snow was an American religious leader who served as the fifth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1898 until his death. Snow was the last president of the LDS Church in the 19th century and the first in the 20th. Read more
03 Apr 1807: Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (died 1877) Mary Carpenter was an English educational and social reformer. The daughter of a Unitarian minister, she founded a ragged school and reformatories, bringing previously unavailable educational opportunities to poor children and young offenders in Bristol. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 03 April in World History

03 Apr 2025: Theodore McCarrick, American former cardinal (born 1930) Theodore Edgar McCarrick was an American former Catholic prelate who was dismissed and laicized by Pope Francis in 2019 after being convicted of sexual misconduct in a canonical trial. Prior to his dismissal, he served as a bishop and cardinal, holding the positions of Archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000 and Archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006. Read more
03 Apr 2025: Mick O'Dwyer, Irish Gaelic footballer and manager (born 1936) Michael O'Dwyer was an Irish Gaelic football manager and player. He most famously managed the senior Kerry county team between 1974 and 1989, during which time he became the county's longest-serving manager, and its most successful at winning major titles. O'Dwyer is regarded as one of the greatest managers in the history of the game. He is one of only three men to manage five different counties. Martin Breheny has described him as "the ultimate symbol of the outside manager". Read more
03 Apr 2024: Bob Lanigan, Australian rugby league player (born 1942) Robert Lanigan was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s. He played for Newtown in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition. Read more
03 Apr 2024: Gaetano Pesce, Italian architect and designer (born 1939) Gaetano Pesce was an Italian architect and a design pioneer of the 20th century. Pesce was born in La Spezia in 1939, and he grew up in Padua and Florence. During his 50-year career, Pesce worked as an architect, urban planner, and industrial designer. His outlook is considered broad and humanistic, and his work is characterized by an inventive use of color and materials, asserting connections between the individual and society, through art, architecture, and design to reappraise mid-twentieth-century modern life. Read more
03 Apr 2022: June Brown, English actress (born 1927) June Muriel Brown was an English actress and author. She was best known for her role as Dot Cotton on the BBC soap opera EastEnders. In 2005, she won Best Actress at the Inside Soap Awards and received the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2005 British Soap Awards. Brown was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to drama and to charity, and promoted to an OBE in the 2022 New Year Honours. In 2009, she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, making her the second performer to receive a BAFTA nomination for their work in a soap opera, after Jean Alexander. In February 2020, at the age of 93, she announced that she had left EastEnders permanently. Read more
03 Apr 2021: Stan Stephens, Canadian-American politician, 20th Governor of Montana (born 1929) Stanley Graham Stephens was a Canadian-American politician, journalist, and broadcaster who served as the 20th governor of Montana from 1989 until 1993 as a member of the Republican Party. Read more
03 Apr 2017: Kishori Amonkar, Indian classical vocalist (born 1931) Kishori Amonkar was an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the Jaipur Gharana, or a community of musicians sharing a distinctive musical style. She is considered to be one of the foremost classical singers in India. She was a performer of the classical genre khyal and the light classical genres thumri and bhajan. Amonkar trained under her mother, classical singer Mogubai Kurdikar also from the Jaipur Gharana, but she experimented with a variety of vocal styles in her career. Read more
03 Apr 2016: Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (born 1932) Cesare Maldini was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Read more
03 Apr 2016: Joe Medicine Crow, American anthropologist, historian, and author (born 1913) Joseph Medicine Crow was a Native American writer, historian and war chief of the Crow Tribe. His writings on Native American history and reservation culture are considered seminal works, but he is best known for his writings and lectures concerning the Battle of the Little Bighorn of 1876. Read more
03 Apr 2016: Koji Wada, Japanese singer and songwriter (born 1974) Kōji Wada was a Japanese pop singer. He was best known for performing theme songs for several installments of the Digimon anime television series, including his recording debut in 1999 with his first and most famous single, "Butter-Fly", the theme song of the anime Digimon Adventure. He was signed with the Lantis recording label. His nickname is "Immortal Butterfly Anisong Singer" (不死蝶のアニソンシンガー). Read more
03 Apr 2015: Sarah Brady, American activist and author (born 1942) Sarah Jane Brady was a prominent advocate for gun control in the United States. Her husband, James Brady, was press secretary to U.S. president Ronald Reagan and was left permanently disabled as a result of an assassination attempt on Reagan. Read more
03 Apr 2015: Bob Burns, American drummer and songwriter (born 1950) Robert Lewis Burns Jr. was an American drummer who was in the original lineup of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Read more
03 Apr 2015: Shmuel Wosner, Austrian-Israeli rabbi and author (born 1913) Shmuel HaLevi Wosner was a prominent Ashkenazi rabbi and posek living in Bnei Brak, Israel. He was known as the Shevet HaLevi after his major work. Read more
03 Apr 2014: Régine Deforges, French author, playwright, and director (born 1935) Régine Deforges was a French author, editor, director, and playwright. Her book La Bicyclette bleue was the most popular book in France in 2000 and it was known by some to be offensive and to others for its plagiarism, neither of which was proved. Read more
03 Apr 2014: Fred Kida, American illustrator (born 1920) Fred Kida was a Japanese-American comic book and comic strip artist best known for the 1940s aviator hero Airboy and his antagonist and sometime ally Valkyrie during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. He went on to draw for Marvel Comics' 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, in a variety of genres and styles, and then again for Marvel superhero titles in the 1970s. He drew the company's The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip during the early to mid-1980s. Kida also assisted artist Dan Barry on the long-running strip Flash Gordon from 1958 to 1961 and then again from 1968 to 1971. Read more
03 Apr 2014: Prince Michael of Prussia (born 1940) Wilhelm Heinrich Michael Louis Ferdinand Friedrich Franz Wladimir Prinz von Preussen was a descendant of the Hohenzollern dynasty which ruled Germany until the end of World War I. His great-grandfather Wilhelm II was the German Emperor and King of Prussia until 1918. Although Kaiser Wilhelm died in exile and his family was stripped of much of its wealth and recognition of its rank and titles by the German Republic, Michael spent nearly all of his life in Germany. Read more
03 Apr 2014: Jovan Pavlović, Serbian metropolitan (born 1936) Jovan Pavlović was a Serbian Orthodox prelate who was the metropolitan bishop of Zagreb and Ljubljana of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1982 until his death in 2014. He was one of the most prominent individuals in Serbian community in Croatia during his lifetime. Read more
03 Apr 2014: Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, American guitarist, fiddler, and composer (born 1921) Arthur Smith was an American musician, composer, and record producer, as well as a radio and TV host. He produced radio and TV shows; The Arthur Smith Show was the first nationally syndicated country music show on television. After moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, Smith developed and ran the first commercial recording studio in the Southeast. Read more
03 Apr 2013: Mariví Bilbao, Spanish actress (born 1930) María Victoria Bilbao-Goyoaga Álvarez better known by her stage name Mariví Bilbao was a Spanish actress, especially famous for her roles as Marisa Benito in Aquí no hay quien viva and Izaskun Sagastume in La que se avecina TV series. Read more
03 Apr 2013: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-American author and screenwriter (born 1927) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was a British and American novelist and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of film director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. Read more
03 Apr 2012: Mingote, Spanish cartoonist and journalist (born 1919) Ángel Antonio Mingote Barrachina, 1st Marquess of Daroca, also simply known as Mingote, was a Spanish cartoonist, writer and journalist. He drew a daily cartoon in ABC since 1953 until his death in 2012. Read more
03 Apr 2012: Richard Descoings, French civil servant (born 1958) Richard Descoings was a French civil servant. He was serving as the Director of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and as such as the Chief Administrator of the National Foundation of Political Science. These two entities are collectively referred to as Sciences Po, and are two of the most prestigious public policy research and teaching bodies in Europe. Descoings was also a senior member of the Conseil d'État. Read more
03 Apr 2012: Govind Narain, Indian politician, 8th Governor of Karnataka (born 1917) Govind Narain, ICS was an Indian civil servant who was member of the Indian Civil Service and served as the 8th Governor of Karnataka. Read more
03 Apr 2012: Chief Jay Strongbow, American wrestler (born 1928) Luke Joseph Scarpa was an American professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer who was best known by the ring name Chief Jay Strongbow. He portrayed a Native American wrestler who wore a war bonnet to the ring and would "go on the warpath" when the fans started cheering him against an opponent. In reality, Scarpa was an Italian-American who portrayed an Indian to stand out. His best accomplishments are in WWF where he was a four-time World Tag-Team Champion. Read more
03 Apr 2012: José María Zárraga, Spanish footballer and manager (born 1930) José María Zárraga Martín was a Spanish professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
03 Apr 2008: Hrvoje Ćustić, Croatian footballer (born 1983) Hrvoje Ćustić was a Croatian footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
03 Apr 2007: Nina Wang, Chinese businesswoman (born 1937) Nina Wang, born Kung Yu Sum, was Asia's richest woman, with an estimated net worth of US$4.2 billion at the time of her death. She was the widow of Hong Kong chemical magnate Teddy Wang, who was kidnapped and disappeared in 1990. Read more
03 Apr 2005: François Gérin, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1944) François Gérin was a member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was a lawyer by career. Read more
03 Apr 2000: Terence McKenna, American botanist and philosopher (born 1946) Terence Kemp McKenna was an American philosopher, ethnobotanist, lecturer, and author who advocated for the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants and mushrooms. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including psychedelic drugs, plant-based entheogens, shamanism, metaphysics, alchemy, language, philosophy, culture, technology, ethnomycology, environmentalism, and the theoretical origins of human consciousness. He was called the "Timothy Leary of the '90s", "one of the leading authorities on the ontological foundations of shamanism", and the "intellectual voice of rave culture". Critical reception of Terence McKenna’s work was deeply polarized, with critics accusing him of promoting dangerous ideas and questioning his sanity, while others praised his writing as groundbreaking, humorous, and intellectually provocative. Read more
03 Apr 2000: Dina Abramowicz, Librarian and YIVO and Yiddish language expert (born 1909) Dina Abramowicz was a librarian at YIVO and a Yiddish language expert. Read more
03 Apr 1999: Lionel Bart, English composer (born 1930) Lionel Bart was an English writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical Oliver! (1960). With Oliver! and his work alongside theatre director Joan Littlewood at Theatre Royal, Stratford East, he played an instrumental role in the 1960s birth of the British musical theatre scene after an era when American musicals had dominated the West End. Read more
03 Apr 1999: Geoffrey Walsh, Canadian general (born 1909) Lieutenant-General Geoffrey Walsh, CBE, DSO, CD was a Canadian soldier and Chief of the General Staff, the head of the Canadian Army from 1961 – 1964; Walsh was the last officer to hold this appointment as it was eliminated in 1964 as part of the reorganization of Canada's military in the lead-up to the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces. The most senior army appointment after unification, the Commander of Mobile Command, had a much-reduced scope of authority. Read more
03 Apr 1998: Mary Cartwright, English mathematician and academic (born 1900) Dame Mary Lucy Cartwright was a British mathematician. She was one of the pioneers of what would later become known as chaos theory. Along with J. E. Littlewood, Cartwright saw many solutions to a problem which would later be seen as an example of the butterfly effect. Read more
03 Apr 1997: John Ugelstad, Norwegian chemical engineer and inventor (born 1921) John Ugelstad was a Norwegian chemical engineer and inventor, known for discovering a process to manufacture monodisperse micropellets or microbeads and dynabeads. He was a professor at the Norwegian Institute of Technology and consultant for DuPont. Read more
03 Apr 1996: Ron Brown, American captain and politician, 30th United States Secretary of Commerce (born 1941) Ronald Harmon Brown was an American politician and lobbyist who served as the 30th United States secretary of commerce during the first term of President Bill Clinton. Before this, he was chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He was the first African American to hold these positions. He was killed, along with 34 others, in a 1996 plane crash in Croatia. Read more
03 Apr 1995: Alfred J. Billes, Canadian businessman, co-founded Canadian Tire (born 1902) Alfred Jackson Billes was a Canadian businessman and co-founder of Canadian Tire. Read more
03 Apr 1994: Frank Wells, American businessman (born 1932) Franklin G. Wells was an American businessman who served as president and chief operating officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until his death in 1994. Read more
03 Apr 1993: Pinky Lee, American television host (born 1907) Pinky Lee was an American actor of stage, screen, radio, and television. He is best known as a children's-TV personality of the 1950s. Read more
03 Apr 1991: Charles Goren, American bridge player and author (born 1901) Charles Henry Goren was an American bridge player and writer who significantly developed and popularized the game. He was the leading American bridge personality in the 1950s and 1960s and widely known as "Mr. Bridge". Read more
03 Apr 1991: Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (born 1904) Henry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Read more
03 Apr 1990: Sarah Vaughan, American singer (born 1924) Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine One", and the "Queen of Bebop", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine Grammy Awards. She was given an NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989. Critic Scott Yanow wrote that she had "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century". Read more
03 Apr 1988: Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (born 1907) Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist known for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips. Read more
03 Apr 1987: Tom Sestak, American football player (born 1936) Thomas Joseph Sestak was an American football defensive tackle who played for the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League (AFL). He played college football for the McNeese State Cowboys. He was named to the AFL All-Time Team. Read more
03 Apr 1986: Peter Pears, English tenor and educator (born 1910) Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Read more
03 Apr 1983: Jimmy Bloomfield, English footballer and manager (born 1934) James Henry Bloomfield was an English football player and manager. He made nearly 500 appearances in the Football League, including more than 300 in the First Division with Arsenal, Birmingham City and West Ham United. He was capped by England at under-23 level. He then spent 13 years in management with Orient and Leicester City. Read more
03 Apr 1982: Warren Oates, American actor (born 1928) Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including The Wild Bunch (1969) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). Another of his most acclaimed performances was as officer Sam Wood in In the Heat of the Night (1967). Read more
03 Apr 1981: Juan Trippe, American businessman, founded Pan American World Airways (born 1899) Juan Terry Trippe was an American commercial aviation pioneer, entrepreneur and the founder of Pan American World Airways, one of the iconic airlines of the 20th century. He was involved in the introduction of the Sikorsky S-42, which opened trans-Pacific airline travel; the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, which introduced cabin pressurization to airline operations; the Boeing 707, which started a new era in low-cost jet transportation; and the Boeing 747 jumbo jets. He also founded InterContinental Hotels & Resorts. Read more
03 Apr 1978: Ray Noble, English bandleader, composer, and actor (born 1903) Raymond Stanley Noble was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United States. He is best known for his signature tune, "The Very Thought of You", and for "Cherokee". Read more
03 Apr 1978: Winston Sharples, American composer (born 1909) Winston Singleton Sharples was an American composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures. In his 35-year career, Sharples scored more than 700 cartoons for Paramount and Famous Studios, and composed music for two Frank Buck films, Wild Cargo (1934) and Fang and Claw (1935). Read more
03 Apr 1976: David M. Dennison, American physicist and academic (born 1900) David Mathias Dennison was an American physicist who made contributions to quantum mechanics, spectroscopy, and the physics of molecular structure. Read more
03 Apr 1976: Claude-Henri Grignon, Canadian journalist and politician (born 1894) Claude-Henri Grignon, OC, FRSC was a French-Canadian novelist, journalist and politician, best known for his 1933 novel Un Homme et son péché. Read more
03 Apr 1975: Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (born 1933) Eileen Mary Ure was a British actress. She was the second Scottish-born actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her role in the 1960 film Sons and Lovers. Read more
03 Apr 1972: Ferde Grofé, American pianist and composer (born 1892) Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé, known as Ferde Grofé was an American composer, arranger, pianist, and instrumentalist. He is best known for his 1931 five-movement symphonic poem the Grand Canyon Suite, and for orchestrating George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for its 1924 premiere. Read more
03 Apr 1971: Joseph Valachi, American gangster (born 1904) Joseph Michael Valachi was an American mobster in the Genovese crime family who was the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to acknowledge its existence publicly in 1963. He is credited with the popularization of the term Cosa Nostra. Read more
03 Apr 1970: Avigdor Hameiri, Israeli author (born 1890) Avigdor Hameiri was a Hungarian-Israeli author. Read more
03 Apr 1962: Manolis Kalomiris, Greek composer and educator (born 1883) Manolis Kalomiris was a Greek classical composer. He was the founder of the Greek National School of Music. Read more
03 Apr 1958: Jaan Kärner, Estonian poet and author (born 1891) Jaan Kärner was an Estonian poet and writer. He is known especially for his nature poetry. Many of his poems were set to music by Estonian composers of choral music. Kärner also wrote numerous novels, plays, works of literary criticism, and scientific literature and historical treatises. He translated works from German and Russian, most notably the poems of Heinrich Heine into Estonian in 1934. Read more
03 Apr 1957: Ned Sparks, Canadian-American actor (born 1883) Ned Sparks was a Canadian character actor of the American stage and screen. He was known for his deadpan expression and comically nasal, monotone delivery. Read more
03 Apr 1952: Miina Sillanpää, Finnish minister and politician (born 1866) Miina Sillanpää was a Finnish politician. She served as Deputy Minister of Social Affairs in 1926–1927. She was Finland's first female minister and a key figure in the workers' movement. In 2016, the Finnish government made 1 October an official flag flying day in honour of Sillanpää. She was involved in the preparation of Finland's first Municipal Homemaking Act. Read more
03 Apr 1951: Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian poet and playwright (born 1890) Henrik Visnapuu was an Estonian poet and playwright. Read more
03 Apr 1950: Kurt Weill, German-American composer and pianist (born 1900) Kurt Julian Weill was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he wrote his best-known work, The Threepenny Opera, which includes the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose, Gebrauchsmusik. He also wrote several works for the concert hall and a number of works on Jewish themes. He fled Nazi Germany in 1933, arriving in the United States two years later. Settling in New York, he made a substantial contribution to American musical theater through works such as Lady in the Dark and Street Scene. Read more
03 Apr 1950: Carter G. Woodson, American historian, author, and journalist, founded Black History Month (born 1875) Carter Godwin Woodson was an American historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He was one of the first scholars to study the history of the Black African diaspora in the United States. A founder of The Journal of Negro History in 1916, Woodson has been called the "father of Black history." In February 1926, he launched the celebration of "Negro History Week," the precursor of Black History Month. Woodson was an important figure to the movement of Afrocentrism, due to his perspective of placing people of Sub-Saharan African descent at the center of the study of history and the human experience. Read more
03 Apr 1946: Masaharu Homma, Japanese general (born 1887) Masaharu Homma was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Homma commanded the Japanese 14th Army, which invaded the Philippines and perpetrated the Bataan Death March. After the war, Homma was convicted of war crimes relating to the actions of troops under his direct command and executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946. Read more
03 Apr 1943: Conrad Veidt, German actor, director, and producer (born 1893) Hans Walter Conrad Veidt was a German and British actor. He attracted early attention for his roles in the films Different from the Others (1919), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), and The Man Who Laughs (1928). After a successful career in German silent films, where he was one of the best-paid stars of UFA, Veidt and his new Jewish wife Ilona Prager left Germany in 1933 after the Nazis came to power. The couple settled in Britain, where he took citizenship in 1939. Veidt subsequently appeared in many British films, including The Thief of Bagdad (1940). After emigrating to the United States around 1941, he was cast as Major Strasser in Casablanca (1942), his last film role to be released during his lifetime. Read more
03 Apr 1941: Tachiyama Mineemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 22nd Yokozuna (born 1877) Tachiyama Mineemon was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture. He was the sport's 22nd yokozuna. He was well known for his extreme strength and skill. He won 99 out of 100 matches from 1909 to 1916, and also won eleven top division tournament championships. Read more
03 Apr 1941: Pál Teleki, Hungarian academic and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Hungary (born 1879) Count Pál János Ede Teleki de Szék was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1920 to 1921 and from 1939 to 1941. He was also an expert in geography, a university professor, a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and chief scout of the Hungarian Scout Association. He descended from an aristocratic family from Transylvania. Read more
03 Apr 1936: Richard Hauptmann, German-American murderer (born 1899) Bruno Richard Hauptmann was a German-American carpenter and criminal who was convicted of the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The Lindbergh kidnapping became known as the "crime of the century". He was executed in 1936 by electric chair at the Trenton State Prison. Both Hauptmann and his wife, Anna Hauptmann, proclaimed his innocence. In recent years, Hauptmann's guilt has been questioned by authors and researchers, and law enforcement behavior in the case has been widely criticized. Read more
03 Apr 1930: Emma Albani, Canadian-English operatic soprano (born 1847) Dame Emma Albani, DBE was a Canadian-British operatic coloratura soprano, later spinto soprano and dramatic soprano of the 19th and early 20th century, the first Canadian singer to become an international star. Her repertoire focused on the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Wagner. She performed across Europe and North America. Read more
03 Apr 1902: Esther Hobart Morris, American lawyer and judge (born 1814) Esther Hobart Morris was an American judge who was the first woman justice of the peace in the United States. She began her tenure as justice in South Pass City, Wyoming, on February 14, 1870, serving a term of nearly nine months. The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners appointed Morris as justice of the peace after the previous justice, R. S. Barr, resigned in protest of Wyoming Territory's passage of the women's suffrage amendment in December 1869. Read more
03 Apr 1901: Richard D'Oyly Carte, English composer and talent agent (born 1844) Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer, and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era. He built two of London's theatres and a hotel empire, while also establishing an opera company that ran continuously for over a hundred years and a management agency representing some of the most important artists of the day. Read more
03 Apr 1897: Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (born 1833) Johannes Brahms was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied yet expressive contrapuntal textures. He adapted the traditional structures and techniques of a wide historical range of earlier composers. His œuvre includes four symphonies, four concertos, a Requiem, much chamber music, and hundreds of folk-song arrangements and Lieder, among other works for symphony orchestra, piano, organ, and choir. Read more
03 Apr 1882: Jesse James, American criminal and outlaw (born 1847) Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie" area of Missouri, James and his family maintained strong Southern sympathies. He and his brother Frank James joined pro-Confederate guerrillas known as "bushwhackers" operating in Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. As followers of William Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson, they were accused of committing atrocities against Union soldiers and civilian abolitionists, including the Centralia Massacre in 1864. Read more
03 Apr 1880: Felicita Vestvali, German actress and opera singer (born 1831) Felicita Vestvali was a German operatic contralto or dramatic soprano and actress. She became famous both in Europe and the United States. Read more
03 Apr 1868: Franz Berwald, Swedish composer and surgeon (born 1796) Franz Adolf Berwald was a Swedish Romantic composer and violinist. He made his living as an orthopedist and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory, and became more appreciated as a composer after his death than he had been in his lifetime. Prominent in his oeuvre are several operas, much chamber music and four symphonies. Read more
03 Apr 1849: Juliusz Słowacki, Polish-French poet and playwright (born 1809) Juliusz Słowacki was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of modern Polish drama. His works often feature elements of Slavic paganism, Polish history, mysticism and orientalism. His style includes the employment of neologisms and irony. His primary genre was the drama, but he also wrote lyric poetry. His most popular works include the dramas Kordian and Balladyna and the poems Beniowski, Testament mój and Anhelli. Read more
03 Apr 1846: William Braine, English soldier and explorer (born 1814) William Braine was a British explorer. He served as a marine in the Royal Marines. From 1845 he was part of an expedition to find the Northwest Passage, but he died early in the trip and was buried on Beechey Island. His preserved body was exhumed in 1986, to try to determine the cause of death. Read more
03 Apr 1844: Edward Bigge, English cleric, 1st Archdeacon of Lindisfarne (born 1807)
Edward Thomas Bigge was an English cleric, the first appointee to the revived role of Archdeacon of Lindisfarne. Read more
03 Apr 1838: François Carlo Antommarchi, French physician and author (born 1780) François Carlo Antommarchi was Napoleon's medical doctor from 1819 to his death in 1821. Read more
03 Apr 1827: Ernst Chladni, German physicist and academic (born 1756) Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni was a German physicist and musician. His most important work, for which he is sometimes labeled the father of acoustics, included research on vibrating plates and the calculation of the speed of sound for different gases. He also undertook pioneering work in the study of meteorites and is regarded by some as the father of meteoritics. Read more
03 Apr 1826: Reginald Heber, English priest (born 1783) Reginald Heber was an English Anglican bishop, a man of letters, and hymn-writer. After 16 years as a country parson, he served as Bishop of Calcutta until his death at the age of 42. The son of a rich landowner and cleric, Heber gained fame at the University of Oxford as a poet. After graduation he made an extended tour of Scandinavia, Russia and Central Europe. Ordained in 1807, he took over his father's old parish, Hodnet, Shropshire. He also wrote hymns and general literature, including a study of the works of the 17th-century cleric Jeremy Taylor. Read more
03 Apr 1804: Jędrzej Kitowicz, Polish priest, historian, and author (born 1727) Jędrzej Kitowicz was a Polish historian and diarist. Read more

Why is 03 April Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 03 April, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

👉 View complete History of Today archive

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 03 April in World history?

On 03 April, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

Is History of Today important for competitive exams?

Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.