History of Today in India – 14 April

Explore the history of today 14 April in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 14 April 2026, 04:21 AM

📜 Important Events on 14 April in World History

• 14 Apr 2024: Flooding in the Persian Gulf starts, killing 19 in Oman. Read more
• 14 Apr 2023: The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency. Read more
• 14 Apr 2022: 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Russian warship Moskva sinks. Read more
• 14 Apr 2016: The foreshock of a major earthquake occurs in Kumamoto, Japan. Read more
• 14 Apr 2014: Two bombs detonate at a bus station in Nyanya, Nigeria, killing at least 88 people and injuring hundreds. Boko Haram claims responsibility. Read more
• 14 Apr 2014: Boko Haram abducts 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria. Read more
• 14 Apr 2006: Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi injure 13 people. Read more
• 14 Apr 2005: The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County. Read more
• 14 Apr 2003: The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%. Read more
• 14 Apr 2003: U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner MS Achille Lauro in 1985. Read more
• 14 Apr 2002: Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military. Read more
• 14 Apr 1999: NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed. Read more
• 14 Apr 1999: A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history. Read more
• 14 Apr 1997: Pai Hsiao-yen, daughter of Taiwanese artiste Pai Bing-bing is kidnapped on her way to school, preceding her murder. Read more
• 14 Apr 1994: In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two U.S. Army helicopters, killing 26 people. Read more
• 14 Apr 1991: The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. Read more
• 14 Apr 1988: The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. Read more
• 14 Apr 1988: In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. Read more
• 14 Apr 1986: The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, each weighing 1 kilogram (2.2 lb), fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. Read more
• 14 Apr 1981: STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight. Read more
• 14 Apr 1979: The Progressive Alliance of Liberia stages a protest, without a permit, against an increase in rice prices proposed by the government, with clashes between protestors and the police resulting in over 70 deaths and over 500 injuries. Read more
• 14 Apr 1978: Tbilisi demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language. Read more
• 14 Apr 1967: Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new President of Togo, a title he will hold for the next 38 years. Read more
• 14 Apr 1958: The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours. Read more
• 14 Apr 1945: Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroys the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes. Read more
• 14 Apr 1944: Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills at least 800 and causes economic damage valued at 20 million pounds. Read more
• 14 Apr 1941: World War II: German and Italian forces attack Tobruk, Libya. Read more
• 14 Apr 1940: World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later. Read more
• 14 Apr 1935: The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, sweeps across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas. Read more
• 14 Apr 1931: The Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed and King Alfonso XIII goes to exile. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Francesc Macià proclaims the Catalan Republic. Read more
• 14 Apr 1929: The inaugural Monaco Grand Prix takes place in the Principality of Monaco. William Grover-Williams wins driving a Bugatti Type 35. Read more
• 14 Apr 1912: The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink. Read more
• 14 Apr 1909: Muslims in the Ottoman Empire begin a massacre of Armenians in Adana. Read more
• 14 Apr 1908: Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, fails, sending a surge of water 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) high downstream. Read more
• 14 Apr 1906: The first meeting of the Azusa Street Revival, which will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement, is held in Los Angeles. Read more
• 14 Apr 1900: The world's fair Exposition Universelle opens in Paris. Read more
• 14 Apr 1895: The 1895 Ljubljana earthquake, both the most and last destructive earthquake in the area, occurs. Read more
• 14 Apr 1894: The first ever commercial motion picture house opens in New York City, United States. It uses ten Kinetoscopes, devices for peep-show viewing of films. Read more
• 14 Apr 1890: The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C. Read more
• 14 Apr 1881: The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight occurs in El Paso, Texas. Read more
• 14 Apr 1865: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the following day. Read more
• 14 Apr 1865: William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State, and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell. Read more
• 14 Apr 1858: The 1858 Christiania fire severely destroys several city blocks near Stortorvet in Christiania, Norway, and about 1,000 people lose their homes. Read more
• 14 Apr 1849: Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader. Read more
• 14 Apr 1816: Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion, for which he is remembered as the country's first national hero. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 14 April in World History

• 14 Apr 2000: Patrick Surtain II, American football player Patrick Frank Surtain II is an American professional football cornerback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, with whom he won the 2020 National Championship, and was selected ninth overall by the Broncos in the 2021 NFL draft. Surtain has made four consecutive Pro Bowls and was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2024. He is the son of former Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Surtain. Read more
• 14 Apr 1999: Chase Young, American football player Chase Young is an American professional football defensive end for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, where he was a unanimous All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist in 2019 after breaking the school's single-season sack record with 16.5. Read more
• 14 Apr 1997: D. J. Moore, American football player Denniston Oliver "D. J." Moore Jr. is an American professional football wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Maryland Terrapins and was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft. Read more
• 14 Apr 1996: Abigail Breslin, American actress Abigail Breslin is an American actress. Following a string of film parts as a young child, she rose to prominence at age 10 after playing Olive Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), for which Breslin received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to establish herself as a mainstream actress with roles in films such as No Reservations (2007), Nim's Island (2008), Definitely, Maybe (2008), My Sister's Keeper, Zombieland, Rango (2011), The Call, August: Osage County, Ender's Game, Maggie (2015), and Stillwater (2021). Breslin's other projects include the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016), where she portrayed Libby Putney, her first regular role on television. Read more
• 14 Apr 1995: Baker Mayfield, American football player Baker Reagan Mayfield is an American professional football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). Following one season of college football with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, he played for the Oklahoma Sooners, becoming the first walk-on player to win the Heisman Trophy. He was selected first overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2018 NFL draft. Read more
• 14 Apr 1995: Georgie Friedrichs, Australian rugby sevens player Georgina Friedrichs is an Australian rugby sevens and union player. She has represented Australia in sevens and fifteens internationally, and competed at the 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. She also plays for the NSW Waratahs in the Super W competition. Read more
• 14 Apr 1989: Joe Haden, American football player Joseph Walter Haden III is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida Gators, earning unanimous All-American honors and was a member of a BCS National Championship team. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft and played for them for seven seasons. He also played for the Pittsburgh Steelers for five seasons. Read more
• 14 Apr 1988: Eric Gryba, Canadian ice hockey player Eric David Gryba is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Gryba was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the third round, 68th overall, of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Read more
• 14 Apr 1988: Eliška Klučinová, Czech heptathlete Eliška Klučinová is a Czech heptathlete. In 2007, she won a silver medal at the European Athletics Junior Championships in Hengelo. Read more
• 14 Apr 1988: Brad Sinopoli, Canadian football player Bradley Sinopoli is a Canadian former professional football wide receiver who played nine years in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was originally a quarterback with the Calgary Stampeders before being converted to wide receiver in 2013. He then joined the Ottawa Redblacks where he was twice named the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian, was named an East Division All-Star three times, and a CFL All-Star in 2018. He won two Grey Cup championships, after winning with the Stampeders in 2014 and with the Redblacks in 2016, the latter of which he was also named the game's Most Valuable Canadian. Read more
• 14 Apr 1988: Anthony Modeste, French footballer Anthony Stéphane Bernard Modeste is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker. Read more
• 14 Apr 1987: Michael Baze, American jockey (died 2011) Michael Carl Baze was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. Read more
• 14 Apr 1987: Erwin Hoffer, Austrian footballer Erwin "Jimmy" Hoffer is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented the Austria national football team at UEFA Euro 2008, and his 17-year playing career spanned several clubs in Austria, Italy, Germany and Belgium. Read more
• 14 Apr 1987: Wilson Kiprop, Kenyan runner Wilson Kiprop is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who specialises in the 10,000 metres and half marathon. He was the world champion at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2010 and was the 10,000 m gold medalist at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics. Read more
• 14 Apr 1986: Matt Derbyshire, English footballer Matthew Anthony Derbyshire is an English footballer who last played as a striker for Northern Premier League Premier Division club Matlock Town. Read more
• 14 Apr 1984: Blake Costanzo, American football player Blake Costanzo is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Lafayette Leopards and was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2006. Read more
• 14 Apr 1984: Charles Hamelin, Canadian speed skater Charles Hamelin is a Canadian retired short track speed skater. In a competitive career that spanned nearly twenty years on the international circuit, Hamelin participated in five Winter Olympic Games and won six Olympic medals, including a national-best four gold medals. Competing in all distances, he won thirty-eight medals at the World Championships, including fourteen gold medals, and also led Canada to five world relay titles. Hamelin was also the 2014 Overall World Cup season winner and the 2018 Overall World Champion, giving him all the achievements available in the sport. Read more
• 14 Apr 1984: Harumafuji Kōhei, Mongolian sumo wrestler, the 70th Yokozuna Harumafuji Kōhei , previously known as Ama Kōhei , is a Mongolian former professional sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 70th yokozuna from 2012 to 2017, making him the third Mongolian and fifth overall non-Japanese wrestler to attain sumo's highest rank. Read more
• 14 Apr 1984: Tyler Thigpen, American football player Tyler Beckham Thigpen is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL draft. Read more
• 14 Apr 1983: Simona La Mantia, Italian triple jumper Simona La Mantia is an Italian triple jumper. Her best result at international senior level was a gold medal at the 2011 European Indoor Championships. Read more
• 14 Apr 1983: James McFadden, Scottish footballer James Henry McFadden is a Scottish former professional football player and coach who now works as a football pundit. Read more
• 14 Apr 1983: William Obeng, Ghanaian-American football player William Yaw Obeng is a Ghanaian former American football offensive lineman in the Arena Football League. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at San Jose State. Read more
• 14 Apr 1983: Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Georgian basketball player Nikoloz Tskitishvili is a Georgian former professional basketball player. At 7 feet tall, he played as power forward-center. Tskitishvili was selected fifth overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 2002 NBA draft. He also played for the senior Georgian national basketball team. Read more
• 14 Apr 1982: Uğur Boral, Turkish footballer Uğur Boral is a Turkish retired footballer who last played for Beşiktaş in the Süper Lig. Read more
• 14 Apr 1982: Larissa França, Brazilian volleyball player Larissa França Maestrini is a Brazilian beach volleyball player. She is the all-time leader of beach volleyball titles, with 57 FIVB career gold medals, including the 2011 Beach Volleyball World Championships with Juliana Felisberta and the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with Talita Antunes. Read more
• 14 Apr 1981: Mustafa Güngör, German rugby player Mustafa Güngör is a German international rugby union player, playing for the TV Pforzheim in the Rugby-Bundesliga and the German national rugby union team. He is a former captain of the German Sevens and German XV team. He made his debut for Germany in a game against Sweden in 2003. Read more
• 14 Apr 1981: Amy Leach, English director and producer Amy Leach is a British theatre director. She was first Associate Director (2017–2022) and then Deputy Artistic Director (2022–2025) of Leeds Playhouse. She is an Olivier Award-nominated and UK Theatre Award-winning director, recognized for her commitment to creatively accessible theatre. Read more
• 14 Apr 1980: Win Butler, American-Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Edwin Farnham Butler III is an American-Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and multi-instrumentalist. He co-founded the Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire with Josh Deu and Régine Chassagne. Read more
• 14 Apr 1980: Jeremy Smith, New Zealand rugby league player Jeremy Smith is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New Zealand international representative, he played as a second-row and lock. He played for the Melbourne Storm, the St. George Illawarra Dragons, with whom he won the 2010 NRL Grand Final with, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Newcastle Knights, who he co-captained, in the NRL. Read more
• 14 Apr 1979: David Crisafulli, Australian politician, 41st Premier of Queensland David Frank Crisafulli is an Australian politician who has served as the 41st premier of Queensland since 2024 and leader of the Liberal National Party since 2020. He has been the member of parliament (MP) for the district Broadwater since 2017. Read more
• 14 Apr 1979: Rebecca DiPietro, American wrestler and model Rebecca DiPietro, born April 14 1979, is an American model and WWE Diva. She is best known for her time with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a backstage interviewer on WWE's ECW brand and for taking part in the WWE 2006 Diva Search. She also posed for Playboy magazine in 2001. Read more
• 14 Apr 1979: Marios Elia, Cypriot footballer Marios Elia is a retired Cypriot professional footballer and manager of the restaurant Ivory in Nicosia. Read more
• 14 Apr 1979: Ross Filipo, New Zealand rugby player Ross Ami Filipo is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer. Filipo's career included long stints with Wellington in the Mitre 10 Cup, Crusaders in Super Rugby, and Bayonne in the Top 14 competition, and appearances for the All Blacks in 2007-2008. Read more
• 14 Apr 1979: Noé Pamarot, French footballer Noé Elias Pamarot is a French former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Before moving to Spain, Pamarot played for Portsmouth in the Premier League. He is a right-footed defender who is also known for his great strength. Pamarot has previously played for Martigues, Nice and Tottenham Hotspur and also had a brief loan spell at Portsmouth in the 1999–2000 season. Read more
• 14 Apr 1979: Kerem Tunçeri, Turkish basketball player Mehmet Kerem Tunçeri is a Turkish former professional basketball player who played at the point guard and shooting guard positions. He is 194 cm in height and 86 kg (190 lbs.) in weight. Read more
• 14 Apr 1978: Roland Lessing, Estonian biathlete Roland Lessing is a former Estonian biathlete. His first World Cup podium was in Pokljuka Pursuit on 20 December 2009. Read more
• 14 Apr 1977: Nate Fox, American basketball player (died 2014) Nate Fox was an American professional basketball player. Read more
• 14 Apr 1977: Martin Kaalma, Estonian footballer Martin Kaalma is a former Estonian professional football goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach for Levadia Tallinn. He has been capped in the Estonia national football team 35 times. He played for multiple Estonian clubs, but longest for FC Flora Tallinn before joining Narva Trans for a 1-year spell in 2006. He then moved to Levadia Tallinn. Read more
• 14 Apr 1977: Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress Sarah Michelle Prinze is an American actress. She is known for portraying strong female characters in film and television, and is regarded as a scream queen for her work in the horror genre. Read more
• 14 Apr 1977: Rob McElhenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter Robert McElhenney III, also known professionally as Rob Mac, is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, director, and businessman. He is best known for his role as Mac on the FX/FXX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present), a show he created and co-developed with Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton and on which he continues to serve as an executive producer and writer. He is also known for playing Ian Grimm on the Apple TV+ comedy series Mythic Quest (2020–2025), which he co-created with Day and Megan Ganz as executive producers. Read more
• 14 Apr 1977: Luke Priddis, Australian rugby league player Luke Priddis is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative hooker, he played club football in the National Rugby League for the Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and Penrith Panthers and, finally, the St. George Illawarra Dragons with who he won the 2010 NRL Premiership. Read more
• 14 Apr 1976: Christian Älvestam, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist Christian Älvestam is a Swedish vocalist, guitarist, bassist and drummer for several bands from Sweden. He is, however, best known as the former vocalist for the Swedish melodic death metal band Scar Symmetry. He currently performs with several bands, including Solution .45, Miseration, Cipher System, Svavelvinter, Ill-Wisher, Pre-Human Vaults and has made several guest appearances for other music bands. He is most known in the metal community for possessing both an extreme clean singing range and an ability to make powerful growls. Read more
• 14 Apr 1976: Georgina Chapman, English model, actress, and fashion designer, co-founded Marchesa Georgina Rose Chapman is an English fashion designer and actress. She was a regular cast member on Project Runway All Stars (2012–2019) and, together with Keren Craig, is a co-founder of the fashion label Marchesa. Chapman was married to film producer Harvey Weinstein before leaving him in 2017 in the wake of allegations of sexual abuse against him. Read more
• 14 Apr 1976: Anna DeForge, American basketball player Anna Louise DeForge is an American-Montenegrin professional female basketball player who most recently played for the Detroit Shock in the WNBA. She was the first player from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to play in the WNBA. After finding little success and playing time for several WNBA teams, she finally earned a spot on a WNBA All-Star team in 2004. She was one of the players selected to play in the historic WNBA vs. USA Basketball Game. Read more
• 14 Apr 1976: Kyle Farnsworth, American baseball player Kyle Lynn Farnsworth is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Chicago Cubs (1999–2004), Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees (2006–2008), Kansas City Royals (2009–2010), Tampa Bay Rays (2011–2013), Pittsburgh Pirates (2013), New York Mets (2014), Houston Astros (2014) in Major League Baseball, and for the Pericos de Puebla (2015) and the Broncos de Reynosa (2016) of the Mexican League. In 2017, Farnsworth was the pitching coach for the Brookhaven Bucks of the Sunbelt Baseball League. Read more
• 14 Apr 1976: Nadine Faustin-Parker, Haitian hurdler Nadine Faustin-Parker is a Haitian hurdler born in Brussels, Belgium. She has represented Haiti at three Summer Olympics;. Read more
• 14 Apr 1976: Jason Wiemer, Canadian ice hockey player Jason Earl Wiemer is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He played for 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
• 14 Apr 1975: Lita, American wrestler Amy Christine Dumas is an American retired professional wrestler and singer. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, under the ring name Lita, where she performed full-time from 2000 to 2006. Read more
• 14 Apr 1975: Luciano Almeida, Brazilian footballer Luciano Silva Almeida is a Brazilian left back. He currently plays for Caxias. Read more
• 14 Apr 1975: Avner Dorman, Israeli-American composer and academic Avner Dorman is an Israeli-born composer, educator and conductor. Read more
• 14 Apr 1975: Anderson Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer Anderson da Silva is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and professional boxer. He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion who unified the UFC Middleweight and Pride World Welterweight Championship, and holds the record for the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days. This started in 2006 and ended in 2013 and included a UFC record 16 consecutive victories in that span. Silva left the UFC in November 2020 and returned to boxing. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. Silva was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in July 2023. Read more
• 14 Apr 1974: Da Brat, American rapper Shawntae Harris-Dupart, known professionally as Da Brat, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she began her career in 1992 and signed with Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings two years later to release her debut studio album, Funkdafied (1994). Receiving platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it became the first album by a female hip hop solo act to do so. Read more
• 14 Apr 1973: Roberto Ayala, Argentinian footballer Roberto Fabián Ayala, nicknamed El Ratón, is an Argentine former footballer who played as a centre back for the Argentina national football team, as well as Valencia and Real Zaragoza in Spain, Milan and Napoli in Italy, and Ferro Carril, River Plate and Racing Club in his native Argentina. Read more
• 14 Apr 1973: Adrien Brody, American actor Adrien Nicholas Brody is an American actor and visual artist. Prolific in both independent films and blockbusters, he has received various accolades including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award with nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Laurence Olivier Award. Read more
• 14 Apr 1973: Hidetaka Suehiro, Japanese video game director and writer Hidetaka Suehiro , known as SWERY or Swery65, is a Japanese video game director and writer. He was one of the founding members of the game development studio Access Games which is based in Osaka. His roles in the company included director, designer, and writer. His best-known work include the games Spy Fiction, Deadly Premonition, and D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die. He then left Access Games in 2016 and he founded his own studio named White Owls Inc. Read more
• 14 Apr 1973: David Miller, American tenor David Miller is an American tenor. Since 2004, he has been a member of the successful classical crossover group Il Divo, who have sold over 30 million copies worldwide. As well, Miller shared a Tony Award with the other members of the ensemble cast of Baz Luhrmann's 2002 revival of La bohème in 2003. Read more
• 14 Apr 1972: Paul Devlin, English-Scottish footballer and manager Paul John Devlin is a former footballer who played as a midfielder or forward. He made more than 500 appearances in the Football League and Premier League, as well as playing in the League of Ireland for Bohemians and spending several years in non-league football. He was capped ten times for the Scotland national team. Read more
• 14 Apr 1972: Roberto Mejía, Dominican baseball player Roberto Antonio Mejía Díaz is a Dominican former professional baseball second baseman. He played all or part of four seasons in Major League Baseball between 1993 and 1997, and one season in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2003. He most recently played for the El Paso Diablos of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball in 2009. Read more
• 14 Apr 1972: Dean Potter, American rock climber and BASE jumper (died 2015) Dean Spaulding Potter was an American free climber, alpinist, BASE jumper, and highliner. He completed many hard first ascents, free solo ascents, speed ascents, and enchainments in Yosemite National Park and Patagonia. He won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year award in 2003. In 2015, he died in a wingsuit flying accident in Yosemite National Park. Read more
• 14 Apr 1971: Miguel Calero, Colombian footballer and manager (died 2012) Miguel Ángel Calero Rodríguez was a Colombian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 50 times for the Colombia national team between 1995 and 2007. Read more
• 14 Apr 1971: Carlos Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player Carlos Gross Pérez is a Dominican former pitcher in Major League Baseball and the brother of former major league players Melido Pérez and Pascual Pérez. Read more
• 14 Apr 1971: Gregg Zaun, American baseball player and sportscaster Gregory Owen Zaun is an American baseball analyst, public speaker and a former professional baseball catcher. He played for nine teams over 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1995 until 2010, winning a World Series Championship in 1997. From 2006 to 2017, he served as an on-air personality with Sportsnet in Canada. Read more
• 14 Apr 1970: Shizuka Kudo, Japanese singer and actress Shizuka Kimura , known by her maiden name Shizuka Kudo , is a Japanese singer, actress and former idol, born in Hamura, Tokyo, Japan. She was a member of Onyanko Club between May 1986 and September 1987 and went on to have a successful solo career with 11 number-one hits. Read more
• 14 Apr 1969: Brad Ausmus, American baseball player and manager Bradley David Ausmus is an American former professional baseball player, manager and current coach. He is the bench coach for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). In his 18-year MLB playing career, Ausmus played as a catcher for the San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also managed the Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, and Israeli national baseball team. He also was a coach for the Oakland Athletics. Read more
• 14 Apr 1969: Martyn LeNoble, Dutch-American bass player Martyn LeNoble is a Dutch bassist and a founding member of the alternative rock band Porno for Pyros. Read more
• 14 Apr 1969: Vebjørn Selbekk, Norwegian journalist Vebjørn Selbekk is a Norwegian newspaper editor and author. Selbekk became widely known in Norway and abroad after he in 2006 reprinted a facsimile of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons as editor of the Christian newspaper Magazinet, sparking a major incident and ensuing controversy. He has since been awarded by the free press organization Fritt Ord for his "firm defence of freedom of expression". Since 2015 he has been a member of the Broadcasting Council of the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. Read more
• 14 Apr 1968: Anthony Michael Hall, American actor Anthony Michael Hall is an American actor, producer and comedian. After his film debut in Six Pack (1982) and a supporting role as Russell "Rusty" Griswold in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Hall had his breakout with starring roles in three John Hughes-directed films: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science. Mainstream media associated Hall with a group of young actors known as the "Brat Pack" due to his roles in those films. Read more
• 14 Apr 1967: Nicola Berti, Italian international footballer Nicola Berti is an Italian former footballer, who played as a midfielder. Berti's career spanned three decades, during which he played for several clubs: after beginning his career with Parma, he played with Fiorentina, and in particular Inter Milan, where he became an important figure in the club's midfield, winning a Serie A title and three UEFA Cups. After his time in Italy, he ended his career with spells in England, Spain, and Australia, at Tottenham, Alavés, and Northern Spirit respectively. Read more
• 14 Apr 1967: Barrett Martin, American drummer, songwriter, and producer Barrett Harrington Martin is an American drummer and record producer from Washington. He is perhaps best known for his work with the alternative rock bands Screaming Trees and Mad Season. He was also a member of Skin Yard, Tuatara, and Walking Papers, and has performed as a session musician for many artists in a variety of genres. As a producer, he has won one Latin Grammy and has been nominated in two other categories. As an ethnomusicologist, he has produced two albums for the Shipibo Shamans in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, and one album for the Neets'ai Gwich'in in the Alaskan Arctic. Read more
• 14 Apr 1967: Julia Zemiro, French-Australian actress, comedian, singer and writer Julia Zemiro is an Australian television presenter, radio host, actress, singer, writer, and comedian. She is best known as the host of the music quiz and live performance show RocKwiz. Zemiro, who was born in France, is a fluent English and French speaker and has acted in French. Read more
• 14 Apr 1966: André Boisclair, Canadian lawyer and politician André Boisclair is a former Canadian politician in Quebec, Canada. He was the leader of the Parti Québécois, a social democratic and sovereigntist party in Quebec. Read more
• 14 Apr 1966: Jan Boklöv, Swedish ski jumper Jan Mauritz Boklöv is a Swedish former ski jumper who won the 1988–89 World Cup season. He also dominated the Swedish national championships during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is best known for popularising the now-ubiquitous V-style in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Read more
• 14 Apr 1966: David Justice, American baseball player and sportscaster David Christopher Justice is an American former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Oakland Athletics from 1989 to 2002. Read more
• 14 Apr 1966: Greg Maddux, American baseball player, coach, and manager Gregory Alan Maddux, also known as "Mad Dog" and "the Professor," is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs. Maddux was the first pitcher in MLB history to win the Cy Young Award four consecutive years (1992–1995), matched by only one other pitcher, Randy Johnson. During those four seasons, Maddux had a 75–29 win–loss record with a 1.98 earned run average (ERA), while allowing fewer than one baserunner per inning. An eight-time All-Star, he won the 1995 World Series with the Braves over the Cleveland Indians. Read more
• 14 Apr 1965: Tom Dey, American director and producer Thomas Ridgeway Dey is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His credits include Shanghai Noon (2000), Showtime (2002), Failure to Launch (2006), and Marmaduke (2010). Read more
• 14 Apr 1965: Alexandre Jardin, French author Alexandre Jardin is a French writer, film director and winner of the Prix Femina, 1988, for Le Zèbre. Read more
• 14 Apr 1965: Craig McDermott, Australian cricketer and coach Craig John McDermott is a former Australian cricketer. Between 1984 and 1996 he played 71 Tests for Australia, taking 291 wickets. Following the end of his playing career, he was the bowling coach for the Australian team for two spells between 2011 and 2016. McDermott was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup. Read more
• 14 Apr 1964: Brian Adams, American wrestler (died 2007) Brian Keith Adams was an American professional wrestler. Adams is known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), under the name Crush, and for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name Brian Adams. Trained in Japan by Antonio Inoki, he was a two-time WCW World Tag Team Champion, a one-time WWF Tag Team Champion and a one-time AJPW World Tag Team Champion, among other accomplishments. He was a challenger for various singles titles in the WWF and WCW, including the WWF Championship. In 2002, he briefly tried a career in boxing until retiring due to back and shoulder injuries. Read more
• 14 Apr 1964: Jeff Andretti, American race car driver Jeff Andretti is a former American professional race car driver. He competed in the Champ Car World Series and was the series' Rookie of the Year in 1991. Read more
• 14 Apr 1964: Jim Grabb, American tennis player Jim Grabb is an American former professional tennis player. In doubles, he won the 1989 French Open and the 1992 US Open. He was ranked the world No. 1 doubles player in both 1989 and 1993. His best singles ranking of world No. 24, he achieved in 1990. Read more
• 14 Apr 1964: Jeff Hopkins, Welsh international footballer and manager Jeffrey Hopkins is a former Welsh international football defender and current Melbourne Victory Women head coach, who most notably played club football for Fulham and Reading in the Football League. Read more
• 14 Apr 1964: Gina McKee, English actress Georgina McKee is an English actress. She won the 1997 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Our Friends in the North (1996), and earned subsequent nominations for The Lost Prince (2003) and The Street (2007). She also starred on television in The Forsyte Saga (2002) and as Caterina Sforza in The Borgias (2011). Her film appearances include Notting Hill (1999), Phantom Thread (2017), and My Policeman (2022). On the stage, she has been nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for King Lear in 2011, Dear England in 2024, and The Years in 2025. Read more
• 14 Apr 1962: Guillaume Leblanc, Canadian athlete Guillaume LeBlanc is a Canadian retired race walker. He specialised in the 20 km event. Read more
• 14 Apr 1961: Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor and director Robert Carlyle is a Scottish actor. His film work includes: Trainspotting (1996), The Full Monty (1997), Ravenous and The World Is Not Enough, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble (2000), The Beach (2000), The 51st State (2001), Eragon (2006), 28 Weeks Later (2007) and The Legend of Barney Thomson (2015). He has starred in television series such as Hamish Macbeth (1995–1998), Stargate Universe (2009–2011), Once Upon a Time (2011–2018) and COBRA (2020–2023). Read more
• 14 Apr 1960: Brad Garrett, American actor and comedian Brad H. Gerstenfeld, known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Read more
• 14 Apr 1960: Myoma Myint Kywe, Burmese historian and journalist (died 2021) Myoma Myint Kywe was a famous Burmese writer and historian. Read more
• 14 Apr 1960: Osamu Sato, Japanese graphic artist, programmer, and composer Osamu Sato is a Japanese digital artist, video game developer, photographer, and composer. His first work was the ambient music album, Objectless (1983). His first work in the video game industry was Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou, which first released in Japan for Classic Mac OS in 1994, and in North America for Microsoft Windows the following year. In 1998, he produced and composed the music for the video game LSD: Dream Emulator on the PlayStation, which later became his most recognizable work outside of Japan. Read more
• 14 Apr 1960: Tina Rosenberg, American journalist and author Tina Rosenberg is an American journalist and the author of three books. For one of them, The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism (1995), she won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Read more
• 14 Apr 1960: Pat Symcox, South African cricketer Patrick Leonard Symcox is a former South African international cricketer. He played 20 Test matches and 80 One Day Internationals in the 1990s. Symcox was a member of the South Africa team that won the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy. Read more
• 14 Apr 1959: Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (died 2015) Steven Patrick Byrnes was an American television announcer and producer. Read more
• 14 Apr 1959: Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Canadian actress Marie-Thérèse Fortin is a Canadian actress. She has appeared in over twenty films since 1985. Read more
• 14 Apr 1958: Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor Peter Dougan Capaldi is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist. He portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series Doctor Who (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It (2005–2012), for which he received four British Academy Television Award nominations, winning Best Male Comedy Performance in 2010. Read more
• 14 Apr 1958: Jim Smith, English musician James A. Smith is an English musician, best known as the bassist for the rock band Cardiacs which he formed with his brother Tim Smith, the band's frontman and leader. Jim is highly regarded for his distinctive bass playing. Read more
• 14 Apr 1957: Lothaire Bluteau, Canadian actor Lothaire Bluteau is a Canadian actor, active in film, theatre, and television. He won the Genie Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of the title character in Denys Arcand's Jesus of Montreal (1989), with a second nomination for his work in Robert Lepage's The Confessional (1995). Read more
• 14 Apr 1957: Bobbi Brown, American make-up artist and author Bobbi Brown is an American professional make-up artist, author, and the founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. She created ten natural-shade lipsticks, which, according to Entrepreneur "revolutionized the beauty industry". She has written ten books about beauty and wellness. In 2025, Time magazine listed her as one of the world's 100 most influential people. Read more
• 14 Apr 1957: Marc Platt, American producer Marc Evan Platt is an American producer. He has worked in film, theatre, and television, and has received numerous accolades including four Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award, as well as nominations for four Academy Awards. Read more
• 14 Apr 1957: Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor Mikhail Vasilievich Pletnev is a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Read more
• 14 Apr 1956: Boris Šprem, Croatian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Croatian Parliament (died 2012) Boris Šprem was a Croatian politician who was the speaker of the Croatian Parliament from 2011 to 2012. He was the first and to date only speaker to die in office since country's independence in 1991. Read more
• 14 Apr 1954: Katsuhiro Otomo, Japanese director, screenwriter, and illustrator Katsuhiro Otomo is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter, animator, and film director. He first rose to prominence as a pioneer founder of the New Wave in the 1970s. He is best known as the creator of Akira, both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. In 2005, Otomo was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, promoted to Officier of the order in 2014, and became the fourth manga artist ever inducted into the American Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2012. Celebrated in Japan, he was also awarded the Purple Medal of Honor from the national government in 2013. Read more
• 14 Apr 1952: Kenny Aaronson, American bass player Kenny Aaronson is an American bass guitarist. He has recorded or performed with many notable artists such as Bob Dylan, Rick Derringer, Billy Idol, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Foghat, Sammy Hagar, Billy Squier, New York Dolls, and Hall and Oates. Since 2015, he has been the bass player for The Yardbirds. Read more
• 14 Apr 1952: Mickey O'Sullivan, Irish footballer and manager Mickey "Ned" O'Sullivan is an Irish former Gaelic football manager, selector and former player. His league and championship career at senior level with the Kerry county team spanned ten seasons from 1971 to 1980. Read more
• 14 Apr 1952: David Urquhart, Scottish bishop David Andrew Urquhart is a retired Scottish bishop. He served as the ninth Bishop of Birmingham in the Church of England. Read more
• 14 Apr 1951: Milija Aleksic, English footballer (died 2012) Milija Anthony Aleksic was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, making 138 appearances in the Football League. Read more
• 14 Apr 1951: José Eduardo González Navas, Spanish politician José Eduardo González Navas known as Pepe Gonzalez is a Spanish politician, established in Catalonia since 1965. In 1972 he won the poetry prize of Olot City. He graduated in economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and now is socialist councilor at Castellar del Vallès. Read more
• 14 Apr 1951: Julian Lloyd Webber, English cellist, conductor, and educator Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist, conductor and broadcaster, a former principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony music education programme. Read more
• 14 Apr 1951: Elizabeth Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, English politician Elizabeth Conway Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean is a British politician and trade unionist. A member of the Labour Party, she was Minister of State for the Middle East from 2001 to 2005. She is former General Secretary of the FDA Trade Union and has served as the Chair of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) since 2010. Read more
• 14 Apr 1950: Francis Collins, American physician and geneticist Francis Sellers Collins is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, from 17 August 2009 to 19 December 2021, serving under three presidents. Collins announced his retirement publicly from the NIH on March 1, 2025, after 32 years of service. Read more
• 14 Apr 1950: Péter Esterházy, Hungarian author (died 2016) Péter Esterházy was a Hungarian writer. He was one of the best known Hungarian and Central European writers of his era. He was called a "leading figure of 20th century Hungarian literature", and his books were considered to be significant contributions to post-war literature. Read more
• 14 Apr 1949: Dave Gibbons, English author and illustrator David Chester Gibbons is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything". He was an artist for 2000 AD, for which he contributed a large body of work from its first issue in 1977. Read more
• 14 Apr 1949: DeAnne Julius, American-British economist and academic Dame DeAnne Shirley Julius, is a Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House. An American–British economist, Julius is noted as a founder member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. Read more
• 14 Apr 1949: Chris Langham, English actor and screenwriter Christopher Langham is an English writer, actor, and comedian. He is known for playing the cabinet minister Hugh Abbot in the BBC sitcom The Thick of It, and as presenter Roy Mallard in People Like Us, first on BBC Radio 4 and later on its transfer to television on BBC Two, where Mallard is almost entirely an unseen character. He is also known for his roles in the television series Not the Nine O'Clock News, Help, and Kiss Me Kate, and as the gatehouse guard in Chelmsford 123. In 2006, he won BAFTA awards for The Thick of It and Help. Read more
• 14 Apr 1949: Chas Mortimer, English motorcycle racer Charles Mortimer is an English former professional motorcycle short-circuit road racer and race-school instructor. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world championships from 1969 to 1979. He remains the only competitor to have won FIM Grand Prix races in the 125, 250, 350, 500 and 750 world championship classes. Read more
• 14 Apr 1949: John Shea, American actor and director John Victor Shea III is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. His career began on Broadway where he starred in Yentl, subsequently winning his first major award, the 1975 Theatre World Award. Shortly after his Off-Broadway career began, Lee Strasberg invited Shea to join the Actors Studio where he spent several years studying method acting. Read more
• 14 Apr 1948: Berry Berenson, American model, actress, and photographer (died 2001) Berinthia "Berry" Berenson-Perkins was an American actress, model and photographer. She was the wife of actor Anthony Perkins. Read more
• 14 Apr 1948: Anastasios Papaligouras, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Justice
  Anastasios Papaligouras was a Greek lawyer and New Democracy politician and was Minister for Mercantile Marine and Island Policy. Read more
• 14 Apr 1947: Dominique Baudis, French journalist and politician (died 2014) Dominique Baudis was the French Defender of Rights (ombudsman). Formerly a journalist, politician and mayor of Toulouse, he had been a member of Liberal Democracy and later of the leading centre-right Union for a Popular Movement. Read more
• 14 Apr 1947: Bob Massie, Australian cricketer Robert Arnold Lockyer Massie is a former Australian cricketer who played in six Test matches and three One Day Internationals (ODIs) in 1972 and 1973. Read more
• 14 Apr 1946: Mireille Guiliano, French-American author Mireille Guiliano is a French-American author, painter, and former corporate executive at LVMH. Read more
• 14 Apr 1946: Michael Sarris, Cypriot economist and politician, Cypriot Minister of Finance Michael Sarris is a Greek Cypriot economist and politician. He earned his B.Sc. in Economics at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE). He later continued his studies in the United States where he obtained his Doctorate in Economics at Wayne State University. Read more
• 14 Apr 1946: Knut Kristiansen, Norwegian pianist and orchestra leader Knut Johan Bratland Kristiansen is a Norwegian composer and jazz musician (piano), known from Bergen jazz life primarily for his many interpretations of the music of Thelonious Monk as orchestra leader his own bands with various number of musicians involved. Read more
• 14 Apr 1945: Ritchie Blackmore, English guitarist and songwriter Richard Hugh Blackmore is an English guitarist, who was a co-founding member of Deep Purple, and was a founding member of Rainbow and Blackmore's Night. In the 1960s, he began his professional career in bands such as the Outlaws, and backed session guitarist in such as singers Glenda Collins, Heinz, Screaming Lord Sutch, Neil Christian, and others.
  Blackmore has been known for playing both classically influenced and blues-based solos. He is cited by publications such as Guitar World and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest and most influential guitar players of all time. As one of former members of Deep Purple, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016. Read more
• 14 Apr 1945: Roger Frappier, Canadian producer, director and screenwriter Roger Frappier is a Canadian producer, director, editor, actor, and screenwriter. Read more
• 14 Apr 1944: John Sergeant, English journalist John James Sergeant is an English television and radio journalist and broadcaster. He was the BBC's chief political correspondent from 1992 to 2000 and the political editor of ITN from 2000 until 2002. Read more
• 14 Apr 1942: Valeriy Brumel, Soviet high jumper (died 2003) Valeriy Nikolayevich Brumel was a Soviet-Russian high jumper. The 1964 Olympic champion and multiple world record holder, he is regarded as one of the greatest athletes ever to compete in the high jump. His international career was ended by a motorcycle crash in 1965. Read more
• 14 Apr 1942: Valentin Lebedev, Russian engineer and astronaut Valentin Vitalyevich Lebedev is a former Soviet cosmonaut who made two flights into space. His stay aboard the Space Station Salyut 7 with Anatoly Berezovoy in 1982, which lasted 211 days, was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. Read more
• 14 Apr 1942: Björn Rosengren, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister of Enterprise and Innovation Björn Folke Rosengren is a Swedish politician and advisor to the Stenbeck family. Read more
• 14 Apr 1941: Pete Rose, American baseball player and manager (died 2024) Peter Edward Rose Sr., nicknamed "Charlie Hustle", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1986, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds lineup known as the Big Red Machine for their dominance of the National League in the 1970s. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, where he won his third World Series championship in 1980, and had a brief stint with the Montreal Expos. He managed the Reds from 1984 to 1989. Read more
• 14 Apr 1940: Julie Christie, Indian-English actress and activist Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Christie's accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has appeared in six films ranked in the British Film Institute's BFI Top 100 British films of the 20th century, and in 1997, she received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement. Read more
• 14 Apr 1940: David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes, English archbishop and academic David Michael Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes, is a retired Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Wakefield between 1985 and 1991 and the Bishop of London between 1991 and 1995. From 1995 to 2005, he was the Archbishop of York in the Church of England. In March 2005, he was made a life peer and therefore a member of the House of Lords; he had already sat in the house as a Lord Spiritual when he was a bishop. He retired from the Lords in April 2015. He was closeted about his sexuality for much of his ministry and even after a press conference when he outed himself, changed that story afterwards. Read more
• 14 Apr 1940: Richard Thompson, English physician and academic Sir Richard Paul Hepworth Thompson, is a British physician and past president of the Royal College of Physicians in London. Read more
• 14 Apr 1938: Mahmud Esad Coşan, Turkish author and academic (died 2001) Mahmud Esad Coşan was a Turkish academic author, preacher, professor of Islam and Naqshbandi leader. Read more
• 14 Apr 1938: Ralph Willis, Australian politician Ralph Willis AO is an Australian former politician who served as a Cabinet Minister during the entirety of the Hawke-Keating government from 1983 to 1996, most notably as Treasurer of Australia from 1993 to 1996 and briefly in 1991. He also served as Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Transport and Communications and Minister for Finance. He represented the Victorian seat of Gellibrand in the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1998. Read more
• 14 Apr 1937: Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (died 2013) Efraim R. "Efi" Arazi was an Israeli technology pioneer and businessman. Read more
• 14 Apr 1937: Sepp Mayerl, Austrian mountaineer (died 2012) Sepp Mayerl, also known as Blasl-Sepp was an Austrian mountaineer. Read more
• 14 Apr 1936: Arlene Martel, American actress and singer (died 2014) Arlene Martel was an American actress. Before 1964, she was frequently billed as Arline Sax or Arlene Sax. Casting directors, among other Hollywood insiders, called Martel the Chameleon because her appearance and her proficiency with accents and dialects enabled her to portray characters of a wide range of races and ethnicities. Read more
• 14 Apr 1936: Bobby Nichols, American golfer Robert Herman Nichols is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the PGA Championship in 1964. Read more
• 14 Apr 1936: Frank Serpico, American-Italian soldier, police officer and lecturer Francesco Vincent "Frank" Serpico is an American retired New York City Police Department detective, best known for whistleblowing on police corruption. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was a plainclothes police officer working in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan to expose vice racketeering. In 1967, he reported credible evidence of widespread police corruption, to no effect. In 1970, he contributed to a front-page story in The New York Times on widespread corruption in the NYPD, which drew national attention to the problem. Mayor John V. Lindsay appointed a five-member panel to investigate accusations of police corruption, which became the Knapp Commission. Read more
• 14 Apr 1935: Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Baroness Masham of Ilton, English table tennis player, swimmer, and politician (died 2023) Susan Lilian Primrose Cunliffe-Lister, Countess of Swinton, Lady Masham of Ilton, was a British crossbench member of the House of Lords, disability campaigner and Paralympic athlete. She was the founder and life-long president of the Spinal Injuries Association. She was Vice President of the Snowdon Trust, founded by the Earl of Snowdon, which provides grants and scholarships for students with disabilities. Her 53 years' membership of the House of Lords was the longest of any female peer. Read more
• 14 Apr 1935: John Oliver, English bishop John Keith Oliver is a British retired Anglican bishop. He was the 103rd Bishop of Hereford from 1990 to 2003. Read more
• 14 Apr 1935: Erich von Däniken, Swiss pseudohistorian and author (died 2026) Erich Anton Paul von Däniken was a Swiss author of several pseudoscientific books which made claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968. Däniken was one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronauts hypotheses. Read more
• 14 Apr 1934: Fredric Jameson, American philosopher and theorist (died 2024) Fredric Ruff Jameson was an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He was best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmodernity and capitalism. Jameson's best-known books include Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991) and The Political Unconscious (1981). Read more
• 14 Apr 1933: Paddy Hopkirk, Northern Irish racing driver (died 2022) Patrick Barron Hopkirk was a rally driver from Northern Ireland, he was considered to be one of the finest rally drivers that Ireland ever produced. Following his retirement from competing he became well known for his charity work and for running his successful automotive accessories business and driving school. Read more
• 14 Apr 1933: Boris Strugatsky, Russian author (died 2012) The brothers Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky were Soviet and Russian science-fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers. Read more
• 14 Apr 1933: Yuri Oganessian, Armenian-Russian nuclear physicist Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian is an Armenian and Russian nuclear physicist who is best known as a researcher of superheavy elements. He has led the discovery of multiple chemical elements. He succeeded Georgy Flyorov as director of the Flyorov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in 1989 and is now its scientific director. The heaviest known element, oganesson, is named after him, only the second time that an element was named after a living person. Read more
• 14 Apr 1932: Bill Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (died 2015) William Richards Bennett, was a Canadian politician who was the 27th premier of British Columbia from 1975 to 1986. Read more
• 14 Apr 1932: Atef Ebeid, Egyptian academic and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Egypt (died 2014) Atef Muhammad Ebeid was an Egyptian politician who served in various capacities in the governments of Egypt. He was the 47th prime minister of Egypt from 1999 to 2004. Read more
• 14 Apr 1932: Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician (died 2022) Loretta Lynn was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill", "Blue Kentucky Girl", "Love Is the Foundation", "You're Lookin' at Country", "You Ain't Woman Enough", "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl", "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' ", "One's on the Way", "Fist City", and "Coal Miner's Daughter". The 1980 musical film Coal Miner's Daughter was based on her life, in which actress Sissy Spacek portrayed Lynn. Read more
• 14 Apr 1932: Cameron Parker, Scottish businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire Cameron Holdsworth Parker is a former Scottish businessman and a former Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire. Parker has been chairman and served on the board of engineering companies, including British Shipbuilders and was a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights in the 1980s. Read more
• 14 Apr 1931: Geoffrey Dalton, English admiral (died 2020) Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Thomas James Oliver Dalton was a Royal Navy officer who became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic. Read more
• 14 Apr 1931: Paul Masnick, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2024) Paul Andrew Masnick was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played as centre in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1950 and 1958. Read more
• 14 Apr 1930: Martin Adolf Bormann, German priest and theologian (died 2013) Martin Adolf Bormann was a German theologian and laicized Catholic priest. He was the eldest of the ten children of Martin Bormann. Read more
• 14 Apr 1930: Arnold Burns, American lawyer and politician, 21st United States Deputy Attorney General (died 2013) Arnold Irwin Burns was an American lawyer. He served as the United States Deputy Attorney General from 1986 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese. In March 1988, Burns, together with the head of the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division William Weld and four aides, resigned from office in protest of what they viewed as improper conduct by Attorney General Meese, including personal financial indiscretions. In July 1988, Burns and Weld jointly testified before the U.S. Congress in support of a potential prosecution of Meese following an investigation by a special prosecutor, who had declined to file charges. Meese resigned from office later in July 1988, shortly after Burns and Weld appeared before Congress. Read more
• 14 Apr 1930: René Desmaison, French mountaineer (died 2007) René Desmaison was a veteran French mountaineer, climber and alpinist. Read more
• 14 Apr 1930: Bradford Dillman, American actor and author (died 2018) Bradford Dillman was an American actor and author. Read more
• 14 Apr 1929: Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012) Gerald Alexander Anderson was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist, who is known for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s productions filmed with "Supermarionation". Read more
• 14 Apr 1929: Inez Andrews, African-American singer-songwriter (died 2012) Sister Inez Andrews, born Inez McConico and better known as Inez Andrews, was an American gospel singer, who was noted for her powerful, wide-ranging voice. The Chicago Tribune stated that "Andrews' throaty contralto made her low notes thunder, while the enormous range of her instrument enabled her to reach stratospheric pitches without falsetto". Her dramatic delivery made her a charismatic presence in church and on stage." Read more
• 14 Apr 1927: Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2007) Alan Graham MacDiarmid, ONZ FRS was a New Zealand-American chemist, and one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000. Read more
• 14 Apr 1927: Dany Robin, French actress and singer (died 1995) Dany Robin was a French actress of the 1950s and the 1960s. Nicknamed ‘la petite fiancée de la France’ in the post-war years, she became one of the leading female stars of the 1950s, moving from the role of ‘ingénue’ to that of saucy Parisienne. She played the leading lady in Topaz (1969), and is regarded as the last ‘Hitchcock blonde’. Read more
• 14 Apr 1926: Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (died 2013) Barbara Lillias Romaine Anderson, Lady Anderson was a New Zealand fiction writer who became internationally recognised and a best-selling author after her first book was published in her sixties. Read more
• 14 Apr 1926: Frank Daniel, Czech director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1996) František "Frank" Daniel was a Czech-American screenwriter, film director and teacher. He is known for developing the sequence paradigm of screenwriting, in which a classically constructed movie can be broken down into three acts, and a total of eight specific sequences. He served as co-chair of the Columbia University film program, and as a dean of FAMU, the American Film Institute and the USC School of Cinema-Television. He was also an artistic director of the Sundance Institute. Read more
• 14 Apr 1926: Gloria Jean, American actress and singer (died 2018) Gloria Jean was an American actress and singer who starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959 and made numerous radio, television, stage and nightclub appearances. She may be best remembered for her appearance with W. C. Fields in the film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941). Read more
• 14 Apr 1926: Liz Renay, American actress and author (died 2007) Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, known professionally as Liz Renay, was an American stripper, author, and actress who appeared in John Waters' film Desperate Living (1977). Read more
• 14 Apr 1925: Abel Muzorewa, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia (died 2010) Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa, also commonly referred to as Bishop Muzorewa, was a Zimbabwean bishop and politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979. A United Methodist Church bishop and nationalist leader, he held office for less than a year. Read more
• 14 Apr 1925: Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (died 2002) Rodney Stephen Steiger was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Ranked as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars", he is closely associated with the art of method acting, embodying the characters he played, which at times led to clashes with directors and co-stars. He starred as Marlon Brando's mobster brother Charley in On the Waterfront (1954), the title character Sol Nazerman in The Pawnbroker (1964) which won him the Silver Bear for Best Actor, and as police chief Bill Gillespie opposite Sidney Poitier in the film In the Heat of the Night (1967) which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Read more
• 14 Apr 1924: Shorty Rogers, American trumpet player and composer (died 1994) Milton "Shorty" Rogers was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arranger. Read more
• 14 Apr 1924: Joseph Ruskin, American actor and producer (died 2013) Joseph Ruskin was an American character actor. Read more
• 14 Apr 1924: Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, English philosopher, and academic (died 2019) Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, was an English philosopher of morality, education, and mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best known for chairing an inquiry whose report formed the basis of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. She served as Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge from 1984 to 1991. Read more
• 14 Apr 1923: Roberto De Vicenzo, Argentinian golfer (died 2017) Roberto De Vicenzo was a professional golfer from Argentina. He won a record 229 professional tournaments worldwide during his career, including seven on the PGA Tour and most famously the 1967 Open Championship. He is also remembered for signing an incorrect scorecard that kept him out of a playoff for the 1968 Masters Tournament. Read more
• 14 Apr 1922: Audrey Long, American actress (died 2014) Audrey Gwendoline Long was an American stage and screen actress of English descent, who performed mainly in low-budget films in the 1940s and early 1950s. Some of her more notable film performances are in Tall in the Saddle (1944) with John Wayne, Wanderer of the Wasteland (1945), Born to Kill (1947), and Desperate (1947). Read more
• 14 Apr 1921: Thomas Schelling, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016) Thomas Crombie Schelling was an American economist and professor of foreign policy, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was also co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute. Read more
• 14 Apr 1920: Ivor Forbes Guest, English lawyer, historian, and author (died 2018) Ivor Forbes Guest DUniv MA FRAD was a British historian and writer, best known for his study of ballet. He was chairman of the Royal Academy of Dance for twenty three years (1970–93) and has been a Vice-President since 1993 and Secretary then Trustee of the Radcliffe Trust. In 1997 he was made a Doctor of the University by the University of Surrey, its highest honorary doctorate. Read more
• 14 Apr 1920: Eleonore Schönborn, Austrian politician (died 2022) Eleonore Gräfin von Schönborn was an Austrian politician and member of the House of Schönborn. Being ethnic Germans, she and her family were expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1945, settling in Austria. She became the first woman to hold a procuriate in Vorarlberg, and to be elected to the Schruns municipal council. Read more
• 14 Apr 1919: Shamshad Begum, Pakistani-Indian singer (died 2013) Shamshad Begum was an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry.
  Begum is regarded as one of the best and most popular female playback singers, and a pioneering figure in Hindi film music and was also one of the most influential playback singers during the "Golden Age" of Bollywood (1940s–1960s). Notable for her distinctive voice and range, she sang over 6,000 songs in Hindustani, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Punjabi languages, among which 1287 were Hindi film songs.
  She worked with renowned composers of the time, such as Ghulam Haider who first discovered her. She also worked with Naushad Ali and O. P. Nayyar, for whom she was one of their favorites. Her songs from the 1940s to the early 1970s remain popular and continue to be remixed. Read more
• 14 Apr 1919: K. Saraswathi Amma, Indian author and playwright (died 1975) K. Saraswathi Amma was a Malayalam feminist writer whose short stories have been anthologised in translation in several American texts. According to critic Jancy James, "In the entire history of women's writing in Kerala, Saraswathi Amma's is the most tragic case of the deliberate neglect of female genius." Read more
• 14 Apr 1918: Mary Healy, American actress and singer (died 2015) Mary Sarah Healy was an American actress, singer, and variety entertainer. Read more
• 14 Apr 1917: Valerie Hobson, English actress (died 1998) Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Profumo affair in 1963. Read more
• 14 Apr 1917: Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (died 2012) Marvin Julian Miller was an American labor union leader and baseball executive who served as the first executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Miller led MLBPA during three strikes and two lockouts. Under Miller's direction, the players' union was transformed into one of the strongest unions in the United States. Read more
• 14 Apr 1916: Don Willesee, Australian telegraphist and politician, 29th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (died 2003) Donald Robert Willesee was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1950 to 1975. He held ministerial office in the Whitlam government as Special Minister of State (1972–1973) and Minister for Foreign Affairs (1973–1975). He also served as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1966 to 1967. Read more
• 14 Apr 1913: Jean Fournet, French conductor (died 2008) Jean Fournet was a French flautist and conductor. Read more
• 14 Apr 1912: Robert Doisneau, French photographer and journalist (died 1994) Robert Doisneau was a French photographer. From the 1930s, he photographed the streets of Paris. He was a champion of humanist photography and, with Henri Cartier-Bresson, a pioneer of photojournalism. Read more
• 14 Apr 1912: Georg Siimenson, Estonian footballer (died 1978) Georg Siimenson was an Estonian international footballer who scored 13 goals in 42 games for the Estonian national side. Read more
• 14 Apr 1907: François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (died 1971) François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician and physician who served as president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. Read more
• 14 Apr 1906: Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (died 1975) Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 until his assassination in 1975. Before his ascension, he served as Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1964, and he was briefly regent to his half-brother King Saud in 1964. He was prime minister from 1954 to 1960 and from 1962 to 1975. Faisal was the third son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia. Read more
• 14 Apr 1905: Elizabeth Huckaby, American author and educator (died 1999) Elizabeth Paisley Huckaby was an educator. Read more
• 14 Apr 1905: Georg Lammers, German sprinter (died 1987) Georg Lammers was a German sprinter who competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics. He won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay, together with Richard Corts, Hubert Houben and Helmut Körnig, and a bronze in the individual 100 m event. Read more
• 14 Apr 1905: Jean Pierre-Bloch, French author and activist (died 1999) Jean Pierre-Bloch was a French Resistant of the Second World War as an activist, being a former president of the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism. Read more
• 14 Apr 1904: John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (died 2000) Sir Arthur John Gielgud was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31. Read more
• 14 Apr 1903: Henry Corbin, French philosopher and academic (died 1978) Henry Corbin was a French philosopher, theologian, and Iranologist, professor of Islamic studies at the École pratique des hautes études. He was influential in extending the modern study of traditional Islamic philosophy from early falsafa to later and "mystical" figures such as Suhrawardi, Ibn Arabi, and Mulla Sadra Shirazi. With works such as Histoire de la philosophie islamique (1964), he challenged the common European view that philosophy in the Islamic world declined after Averroes and Avicenna. Read more
• 14 Apr 1903: Ruth Svedberg, Swedish discus thrower and triathlete (died 2002) Ruth Augusta Svedberg was a Swedish track and field athlete. She competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in the 100 m, 4 × 100 m relay and discus throw events and won a bronze medal in the discus, failing to reach the finals in sprint events. Two years later she won the bronze medal in the triathlon at the third Women's World Games. Read more
• 14 Apr 1902: Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (died 1974) Joseph Sylvio Theobald Mantha was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960, he was regarded as one of the best two-way defencemen of his day. Read more
• 14 Apr 1900: Shivrampant Damle, Indian educationist (died 1977) Captain Shivrampant Damle was an Indian educationist. He is best remembered for founding the Maharashtriya Mandal in 1924. Read more
• 14 Apr 1892: Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (died 1962) Juan Belmonte García was a Spanish bullfighter. He fought in a record number of bull fights and was responsible for changing the art of bullfighting. He had minor deformities in his legs which forced him to design new techniques and styles of bullfighting. Read more
• 14 Apr 1892: V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist and philologist (died 1957) Vere Gordon Childe was an Australian archaeologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. He spent most of his life in the United Kingdom, working as an academic for the University of Edinburgh and then the Institute of Archaeology, London. He wrote twenty-six books during his career. Initially an early proponent of culture-historical archaeology, he later became the first exponent of Marxist archaeology in the Western world. Read more
• 14 Apr 1892: Claire Windsor, American actress (died 1972) Claire Windsor was an American film actress of the silent screen era. Read more
• 14 Apr 1891: B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist, jurist, and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Law and Justice (died 1956) Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and politician who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on the debates of the Constituent Assembly of India and the first draft of Sir Benegal Narsing Rau. Ambedkar served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. He later renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism, inspiring the Dalit Buddhist movement. Read more
• 14 Apr 1891: Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (died 1958) Otto Abraham Lasanen was a featherweight Greco-Roman wrestler from Finland. He won a bronze medal at the 1912 Summer Olympics and placed fourth at the 1914 unofficial European Championships. In 1917 he won a Russian title, as Finland was part of Russia then. Lasanen was a car driver by profession. Read more
• 14 Apr 1889: Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic (died 1975) Arnold Joseph Toynbee was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's College London. From 1918 to 1950, Toynbee was considered a leading specialist on international affairs; from 1929 to 1956 he was the Director of Studies at Chatham House, in which position he also produced 34 volumes of the Survey of International Affairs, a "bible" for international specialists in Britain. Read more
• 14 Apr 1886: Ernst Robert Curtius, German philologist and scholar (died 1956) Ernst Robert Curtius was a German literary scholar, philologist, and Romance languages literary critic, best known for his 1948 study Europäische Literatur und Lateinisches Mittelalter, translated in English as European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages. Read more
• 14 Apr 1886: Árpád Tóth, Hungarian poet and translator (died 1928) Árpád Tóth was a Hungarian poet and translator. Read more
• 14 Apr 1882: Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (died 1936) Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick was a German philosopher, physicist, and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle. He was murdered by a former student, Johann Nelböck, in 1936. Read more
• 14 Apr 1881: Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian poet and scholar (died 1948) Hussain Salahuddin, was an influential Maldivian writer, poet, essayist and scholar. Read more
• 14 Apr 1876: Cecil Chubb, English barrister and one time owner of Stonehenge (died 1934) Sir Cecil Herbert Edward Chubb, 1st Baronet, was the last private owner of Stonehenge prehistoric monument, Wiltshire, which he donated to the British government in 1918. Read more
• 14 Apr 1874: Matti Lonkainen, Finnish politician (died 1918) Matti Pekanpoika Lonkainen was a Finnish smallholder, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Kuopio Province East between June 1909 and May 1918. He died in captivity following the Finnish Civil War. Read more
• 14 Apr 1872: Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-English scholar and translator (died 1953) Abdullah Yusuf Ali was an Indian-British barrister who wrote a number of books about Islam, including an exegesis of the Qur'an. A supporter of the British war effort during World War I, Ali received the CBE in 1917 for his services to that cause. He died in London in 1953. Read more
• 14 Apr 1870: Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter and educator (died 1905) Victor Elpidiforovich Borisov-Musatov was a Russian painter, prominent for his unique Post-Impressionistic style that mixed Symbolism, pure decorative style and realism. Together with Mikhail Vrubel he is often referred as the creator of Russian Symbolism style. Read more
• 14 Apr 1870: Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer and coach (died 1929) Sydney Edward Gregory, sometimes known as Edward Sydney Gregory, was a cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. At the time of his retirement, he had played a world-record 58 Test matches during a career spanning 1890 to 1912. A right-handed batsman, he was also a renowned fielder, particularly at cover point. Read more
• 14 Apr 1868: Peter Behrens, German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory (died 1940) Peter Behrens was a leading German architect, graphic and industrial designer, best known for his early pioneering AEG Turbine Hall in Berlin in 1909. He had a long career, designing objects, typefaces, and important buildings in a range of styles from the 1900s to the 1930s. He was a founding member of the German Werkbund in 1907, when he also began designing for AEG, pioneered corporate design, graphic design, producing typefaces, objects, and buildings for the company. In the next few years, he became a successful architect, a leader of the rationalist / classical German Reform Movement of the 1910s. After the First World War, he turned to Brick Expressionism, designing the remarkable Hoechst Administration Building outside Frankfurt, and from the mid-1920s increasingly to New Objectivity. He was also an educator, heading the architecture school at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1922 to 1936. As a well known architect he produced design across Germany, in other European countries, Russia and England. Several of the leading names of European modernism worked for him when they were starting out in the 1910s, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Read more
• 14 Apr 1866: Anne Sullivan, American educator (died 1936) Anne Sullivan Macy was an American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller. At age five, Sullivan contracted trachoma which left her partially blind and without reading or writing skills. Sullivan received her education as a student of the Perkins School for the Blind. Soon after graduation at age 20, she became a teacher to Keller. Read more
• 14 Apr 1865: Alfred Hoare Powell, English architect, and designer and painter of pottery (died 1960) Alfred Hoare Powell (1865–1960) was an English Arts and Crafts architect, and designer and painter of pottery. Read more
• 14 Apr 1857: Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (died 1944) Princess Beatrice, later known as Princess Henry of Battenberg, was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She was also the last surviving child of Queen Victoria, dying nearly 66 years after the first to die, her elder sister Princess Alice. Read more
• 14 Apr 1854: Martin Lipp, Estonian pastor and poet (died 1923) Martin Lipp was an Estonian poet. He is best known as the author of the poem The Estonian Flag, which was set to the music of the then young composer Enn Võrk. That song became as popular to the Estonian people as the Marseillaise was to the French in the times of the French Revolution and also played an important role during the time of the Estonian "Singing Revolution" in the late 1980s. Read more
• 14 Apr 1852: Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (died 1941) Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton was an Australian naturalist and teacher born in Ireland. A former president of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, he was known for his studies of desert plants and pollination as well as birds and terrestrial worms. Read more
• 14 Apr 1827: Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist (died 1900) Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers was an English officer in the British Army, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for innovations in archaeological methodology, and in the museum display of archaeological and ethnological collections. His international collection of about 22,000 objects was the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford, while his collection of English archaeology from the area around Stonehenge forms the basis of the collection at The Salisbury Museum in Wiltshire. Read more
• 14 Apr 1819: Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, American educator, author, editor, and publisher (died 1901) Harriett Ellen Arey was a 19th-century American educator, author, editor, and publisher. Raised in New England, she was one of the first women in the United States to study in a co-educational environment. In Cleveland, Ohio, she became a contributor to The Daily Cleveland Herald and taught at a girls' school. After marrying, she moved to Wisconsin, and served as "Preceptress and Teacher of English Literature, French, and Drawing" at State Normal School in Whitewater, Wisconsin. After returning to Cleveland, she edited a monthly publication devoted to charitable work, and served on the board of the Woman's Christian Association. Arey was a co-founder and first president of the Ohio Woman's Press Association. Her principal writings were Household Songs and Other Poems and Home and School Training. Arey died in 1901. Read more
• 14 Apr 1814: Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian publicist and author (died 1887) Prince Dimitri Ivanes dze Kipiani was a Georgian statesman, publicist, writer and translator. A leader of Georgia's liberal nobility, he was known for his work in support of the Georgian culture and society, a cause that led to his 1886 exile and murder at the hands of Russian Imperial authorities. In 2007 he was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church as a saint. Read more
• 14 Apr 1812: George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1898) Sir George Grey, KCB was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony, and the 11th premier of New Zealand. He played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand, and both the purchase and annexation of Māori land. Read more
• 14 Apr 1800: John Appold, English engineer (died 1865) John George Appold, FRS was a British fur dyer and engineer. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 14 April in World History

• 14 Apr 2025: Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysian civil servant and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia (born 1939) Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi, also known as Pak Lah, was a Malaysian politician and civil servant who served as the fifth prime minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009. A member of UMNO, he was the party's president from 2004 to 2009 and led the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition during his premiership. Read more
• 14 Apr 2024: Ken Holtzman, American baseball player (born 1945) Kenneth Dale Holtzman was an American professional baseball player and coach. He was a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1965 through 1979 for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, and New York Yankees. Read more
• 14 Apr 2023: Mark Sheehan, Irish guitarist (The Script) (born 1976) Mark Anthony Sheehan was an Irish musician. From 1996 to 2001, he was a member of the boy band Mytown. In 2001, he co-founded and played lead guitar for pop rock band the Script, which he stayed in until his death in 2023. Read more
• 14 Apr 2022: Mike Bossy, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (born 1957) Michael Dean Bossy was a Canadian professional ice hockey player with the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. He spent his entire NHL career, which lasted from 1977 to 1987, with the Islanders, and was a crucial part of their four consecutive Stanley Cup championships in the early 1980s. Read more
• 14 Apr 2022: Ilkka Kanerva, Finnish politician (born 1948) Ilkka Armas Mikael Kanerva was a Finnish politician and a member of the Parliament of Finland. He was born in Lokalahti, now a part of Uusikaupunki in Southwest Finland. He was the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2007 to 2008. Kanerva was a member of the National Coalition Party. Read more
• 14 Apr 2022: Orlando Julius, Nigerian saxophonist, singer (born 1943) Orlando Julius Aremu Olusanya Ekemode, known professionally as Orlando Julius or Orlando Julius Ekemode was a Nigerian saxophonist, singer, bandleader, and songwriter closely associated with afrobeat music. Read more
• 14 Apr 2021: Bernie Madoff, American mastermind of the world's largest Ponzi scheme (born 1938) Bernard Lawrence Madoff was an American financier and con artist who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange. Madoff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business. Read more
• 14 Apr 2020: Carol D'Onofrio, American public health researcher (born 1936) Carol D'Onofrio was an American public health researcher who was Emeritus Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. Her career focused on improving the health of underserved communities, in particular through curtailing the use of tobacco and alcohol. Read more
• 14 Apr 2019: Bibi Andersson, Swedish actress (born 1935) Berit Elisabet "Bibi" Andersson was a Swedish actress, best known for her frequent collaborations with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She received numerous accolades for her work, including four Guldbagge Awards, and Best Actress Awards from both the Cannes and Berlin film festivals. Read more
• 14 Apr 2015: Klaus Bednarz, German journalist and author (born 1942) Klaus Bednarz was a German journalist and writer. Read more
• 14 Apr 2015: Mark Reeds, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (born 1960) Mark Allen Reeds was a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and a former player who had played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1981 and 1989. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, but grew up in Burlington, Ontario. Read more
• 14 Apr 2015: Percy Sledge, American singer (born 1940) Percy Tyrone Sledge was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song "When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 1966. It was awarded a million-selling, gold-certified disc from the RIAA. Read more
• 14 Apr 2015: Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal and theologian (born 1921) Roberto Tucci, SJ was an Italian Catholic theologian, journalist, and Jesuit priest. He played an important role at the Second Vatican Council and organized foreign trips taken by Pope John Paul II. He was made a cardinal in 2001, and continued to prefer being addressed as "Padre Tucci". Read more
• 14 Apr 2014: Nina Cassian, Romanian poet and critic (born 1924) Nina Cassian was a Romanian poet, children's book writer, translator, journalist, accomplished pianist and composer, and film critic. She spent the first sixty years of her life in Romania until she moved to the United States in 1985 for a teaching job. A few years later Cassian was granted permanent asylum and New York City became her home for the rest of her life. Much of her work was published both in Romanian and in English. Read more
• 14 Apr 2014: Crad Kilodney, American-Canadian author (born 1948) Crad Kilodney was the pen name of Lou Trifon, an American-born Canadian writer who lived in Toronto, Ontario. He was best known for selling his self-published books on the streets of the city between about 1978 and 1995. Read more
• 14 Apr 2014: Wally Olins, English businessman and academic (born 1930) Wallace Olins CBE was a British practitioner of corporate identity and branding. He co-founded Wolff Olins and Saffron Brand Consultants and was the chairman of both. Olins advised many of the world's leading organisations on identity, branding, communication and related matters including 3i, Akzo Nobel, Repsol, Q8, The Portuguese Tourist Board, BT, Renault, Volkswagen, Tata and Lloyd's of London. He acted as advisor both to McKinsey and Bain. He pioneered the concept of the nation as a brand and has worked on branding projects for a number of cities and countries, including London, Mauritius, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, and Lithuania. Read more
• 14 Apr 2014: Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (born 1940) David Michael Staton, better known as Mick Staton was an American banker and politician. He was a Republican congressman from West Virginia, serving one term in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1983. Read more
• 14 Apr 2013: Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (born 1937) Efraim R. "Efi" Arazi was an Israeli technology pioneer and businessman. Read more
• 14 Apr 2013: Colin Davis, English conductor and educator (born 1927) Sir Colin Rex Davis was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom he was particularly associated were Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett. Read more
• 14 Apr 2013: R. P. Goenka, Indian businessman, founded RPG Group (born 1930) Rama Prasad Goenka was the founder and chairman Emeritus of the RPG Group, a multi-sector Indian industrial conglomerate. Born in 1930, he was the eldest son of Keshav Prasad Goenka and grandson of Badridas Goenka, the first Indian to be appointed Chairman of the Imperial Bank of India. His two younger brothers were Jagdish Prasad and Gouri Prasad. On Keshav Prasad Goenka's death, his businesses were split between the three brothers. Rama Prasad Goenka, established RPG Enterprises in 1979. Read more
• 14 Apr 2013: George Jackson, American singer-songwriter (born 1945) George Henry Jackson was an American blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll/rock and soul singer-songwriter. His prominence was as a prolific and skilled songwriter: he wrote or co-wrote many hit songs for other musicians, including "Down Home Blues", "One Bad Apple", "Old Time Rock and Roll" and "The Only Way Is Up". As a southern soul singer he recorded fifteen singles between 1963 and 1985, with some success. Read more
• 14 Apr 2013: Armando Villanueva, Peruvian politician, 121st Prime Minister of Peru (born 1915) Armando Villanueva del Campo was a Peruvian politician who was the leader of the Peruvian American Popular Revolutionary Alliance. Born in Lima, his parents were Pedro Villanueva Urquijo, a gynecologist in the city, and Carmen Rosa Portal del Campo. His only legitimate sibling was his older brother Ing. Pedro Villanueva del Campo Portal. Read more
• 14 Apr 2013: Charlie Wilson, American politician (born 1943) Charles A. Wilson Jr. was an American businessman and politician who served as a U.S. Representative for Ohio's 6th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the Ohio State Senate and the Ohio House of Representatives. Read more
• 14 Apr 2012: Émile Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1919) Joseph Émile Alcide "Butch" Bouchard was a Canadian ice hockey player who played defence with the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League from 1941 to 1956. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, won four Stanley Cups, was captain of the Canadiens for eight years, and was voted to the NHL All-Star team four times. Although having a reputation as a clean player, he was also one of the strongest players and best body-checkers of his era. He excelled as a defensive defenceman, had superior passing skills, and was known for his leadership and mentoring of younger players. In his early years in the NHL, Bouchard, among other players, made a major contribution to reinvigorating what was at the time an ailing Canadien franchise. Read more
• 14 Apr 2012: Jonathan Frid, Canadian actor (born 1924) John Herbert Frid, known as Jonathan Frid, was a Canadian actor, best known for his role as vampire Barnabas Collins on the gothic television soap opera Dark Shadows. The introduction in 1967 of Frid's reluctant, guilt-ridden vampire caused the floundering daytime drama to soar to 20 million daily viewers. His watershed portrayal has been cited as a key influence on contemporary genre film and television series such as Twilight, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. Read more
• 14 Apr 2012: Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (born 1986) Piermario Morosini was an Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. On 14 April 2012, during a match between Pescara and Livorno, Morosini suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on the pitch. Read more
• 14 Apr 2011: Jean Gratton, Canadian Roman Catholic bishop (born 1924) Jean Gratton was the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Mont-Laurier, Canada. Read more
• 14 Apr 2010: Israr Ahmed, Pakistani theologian and scholar (born 1932) Dr.Israr Ahmad was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, theologian and orator. He developed a following in Pakistan and the rest of South Asia and also among some South Asian Muslims in the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America. He founded Tanzeem-e-Islami and also served as a member of the National Assembly from 1981 to 1982. Read more
• 14 Apr 2010: Alice Miller, Polish-French psychologist and author (born 1923) Alice Miller was a Polish-Swiss psychologist, psychoanalyst, and philosopher noted for her books on parental child abuse, translated into several languages. She was also a noted public intellectual. Her 1979 book The Drama of the Gifted Child caused a sensation and became an international bestseller upon the English publication in 1981. Her views on the consequences of child abuse became highly influential in the fields of child development, psychotherapy, and trauma. In her books she departed from psychoanalysis, charging it with being similar to the poisonous pedagogies. Read more
• 14 Apr 2010: Peter Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player (born 1962) Peter Thomas Ratajczyk, known professionally as Peter Steele, was an American musician who was the lead vocalist, bassist, and composer of the gothic metal band Type O Negative. Before forming Type O Negative, Steele had formed the heavy metal band Fallout and the thrash metal band Carnivore. Read more
• 14 Apr 2009: Maurice Druon, French author (born 1918) Maurice Druon was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Française, of which he served as "Perpetual Secretary" (chairman) between 1985 and 1999. Read more
• 14 Apr 2008: Tommy Holmes, American baseball player and manager (born 1917) Thomas Francis Holmes was an American right and center fielder and manager in Major League Baseball who played nearly his entire career for the Boston Braves. He hit over .300 lifetime (.302) and every year from 1944 through 1948, peaking with a .352 mark in 1945 when he finished second in the National League batting race and was runner-up for the NL's Most Valuable Player Award. Read more
• 14 Apr 2008: Ollie Johnston, American animator and voice actor (born 1912) Oliver Martin Johnston Jr. was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death from natural causes. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005. Read more
• 14 Apr 2007: June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (born 1924) June Rose Callwood, was a Canadian journalist, author and social activist. She wrote articles and columns written for national newspapers and magazines, including Maclean's and Chatelaine. She also founded a number of charities. Read more
• 14 Apr 2007: Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player (born 1930) Donald Tai Loy Ho was an American traditional pop musician, singer, and entertainer. He is best known for the song "Tiny Bubbles" from the 1966 album of the same name. Read more
• 14 Apr 2007: René Rémond, French historian and economist (born 1918) René Rémond was a French historian, political scientist and political economist. Read more
• 14 Apr 2006: Mahmut Bakalli, Kosovo politician (born 1936) Mahmut Bakalli[a] was a Kosovo Albanian politician. Read more
• 14 Apr 2004: Micheline Charest, English-Canadian television producer, co-founded the Cookie Jar Group (born 1953) Micheline Charest was a British-born Canadian television producer and founder and former co-chairman of CINAR. In 1997, Charest was ranked 19th in The Hollywood Reporter's list of the 50 most powerful women in the entertainment industry. Read more
• 14 Apr 2003: Jyrki Otila, Finnish politician (born 1941) Jyrki Ilari Otila was a Finnish quiz show judge and a member of the European Parliament. Read more
• 14 Apr 2001: Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer (born 1939) James Curran Baxter was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a left half. He is generally regarded as one of the country's greatest ever players. He was born, educated and started his career in Fife, but his peak playing years were in the early 1960s with the Glasgow club Rangers, whom he helped to win ten trophies between 1960 and 1965, and where he became known as "Slim Jim". However, he started drinking heavily during a four-month layoff caused by a leg fracture in December 1964, his fitness suffered, and he was transferred to Sunderland in summer 1965. In two and a half years at Sunderland he played 98 games and scored 12 goals, becoming known for drinking himself unconscious the night before a match and playing well the next day. At the end of 1967 Sunderland transferred him to Nottingham Forest, who gave him a free transfer back to Rangers in 1969 after 50 games. After a further year with Rangers Baxter retired from football in 1970, at the age of 31. Read more
• 14 Apr 2001: Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927) Hiroshi Teshigahara was a Japanese avant-garde filmmaker and artist from the Japanese New Wave era. He is best known for the 1964 film Woman in the Dunes. He is also known for directing other titles such as The Face of Another (1966), Natsu no Heitai, and Pitfall (1962), which was Teshigahara's directorial debut. He has been called "one of the most acclaimed Japanese directors of all time". Teshigahara is the first person of Asian descent to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, accomplishing this in 1964 for his work on Woman in the Dunes. Apart from being a filmmaker, Teshigahara also practiced other arts, such as calligraphy, pottery, painting, opera and ikebana. Read more
• 14 Apr 2000: Phil Katz, American computer programmer, co-created the zip file format (born 1962) Phillip Walter Katz was a computer programmer best known as the co-creator of the ZIP file format for data compression, and the author of PKZIP, a program for creating zip files that ran under DOS. Read more
• 14 Apr 2000: August R. Lindt, Swiss lawyer and politician (born 1905) Dr. August Rudolf Lindt, also known as Auguste R. Lindt, was a Swiss lawyer and diplomat. He served as Chairman of UNICEF in 1953 and as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1956 to 1960. Read more
• 14 Apr 2000: Wilf Mannion, English footballer (born 1918) Wilfrid James Mannion was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward, making over 350 senior appearances for Middlesbrough. He also played international football for England. With his blonde hair, he was nicknamed "The Golden Boy". Read more
• 14 Apr 1999: Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (born 1911) Ellen Hansen Corby was an American actress and screenwriter. She performed in over 200 films and television series from the 1930s to the 1990s. She played the role of Esther "Grandma" Walton on the CBS television series The Waltons, for which she won three Emmy Awards. She was also nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Aunt Trina in I Remember Mama (1948). Read more
• 14 Apr 1999: Anthony Newley, English singer-songwriter and actor (born 1931) Anthony Newley was an English actor, director, comedian, singer, and composer. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leading men", from 1959 to 1962 he scored a dozen entries on the UK Singles Chart, including two number one hits. Newley won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "What Kind of Fool Am I?", sung by Sammy Davis Jr., and wrote "Feeling Good", which became a signature hit for Nina Simone. His songs have been sung by a wide variety of singers including Fiona Apple, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Michael Bublé, and Mariah Carey. Read more
• 14 Apr 1999: Bill Wendell, American television announcer (born 1924) William Joseph Wenzel Jr., known as Bill Wendell, was an NBC television staff announcer for almost his entire professional career. Read more
• 14 Apr 1995: Burl Ives, American actor, folk singer, and writer (born 1909) Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades. Read more
• 14 Apr 1994: Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani chemist and scholar (born 1897) Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, was a Pakistani organic chemist specialising in natural products, and a professor of chemistry at the University of Karachi. Read more
• 14 Apr 1992: Irene Greenwood, Australian radio broadcaster and feminist and peace activist (born 1898) Irene Greenwood was an Australian radio broadcaster and feminist and peace activist. Read more
• 14 Apr 1991: Randolfo Pacciardi, centre-left Italian politician (born 1899) Randolfo Pacciardi was an Italian politician. Read more
• 14 Apr 1990: Thurston Harris, American singer (born 1931) Thurston Harris was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1957 hit "Little Bitty Pretty One". Read more
• 14 Apr 1990: Olabisi Onabanjo, Nigerian politician, 3rd Governor of Ogun State (born 1927) Chief Victor Olabisi Onabanjo was a Nigerian journalist and politician who served as governor of Ogun State from October 1979 to December 1983, during the Nigerian Second Republic. He was of Ijebu extraction. Read more
• 14 Apr 1986: Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist and philosopher (born 1908) Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she considered one at the time of her death, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory. Read more
• 14 Apr 1983: Pete Farndon, English bassist (The Pretenders) (born 1952) Peter Granville Farndon was an English bassist and founding member of the rock band the Pretenders. In addition to playing bass with the group, Farndon sang backup vocals and co-wrote two of the group's songs, before a drug problem resulted in his dismissal from the group in 1982 and his death a year later. Read more
• 14 Apr 1983: Gianni Rodari, Italian journalist and author (born 1920) Giovanni Francesco "Gianni" Rodari was an Italian writer and journalist, most famous for his works of children's literature, notably Il romanzo di Cipollino. For his lasting contribution as a children's author, he received the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1970. He is considered Italy's most important 20th-century children's author, and his books have been translated into many languages, though few have been published in English. Read more
• 14 Apr 1983: Ben Dunne, founder of Dunnes Stores (born 1908) Bernard Dunne was an Irish businessman who was the founder and chairman of Dunnes Stores. Read more
• 14 Apr 1978: Joe Gordon, American baseball player and manager (born 1915) Joseph Lowell Gordon, nicknamed "Flash", in reference to the comic-book character Flash Gordon, was an American second baseman, coach and manager in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians from 1938 to 1950. He was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009. Read more
• 14 Apr 1978: F. R. Leavis, English educator and critic (born 1895) Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis was an English literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for much of his career at Downing College, Cambridge, and later at the University of York. Read more
• 14 Apr 1976: José Revueltas, Mexican author and activist (born 1914) José Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican writer, essayist, and political activist. He was part of an important artistic family that included his siblings Silvestre (composer), Fermín (painter) and Rosaura (actress). Read more
• 14 Apr 1975: Günter Dyhrenfurth, German-Swiss mountaineer, geologist, and explorer (born 1886) Günter Oskar Dyhrenfurth was a German-born, German and Swiss mountaineer, geologist and Himalayan explorer. He won a gold medal in alpinism at the 1936 Summer Olympics, the third and final time the award was offered. Read more
• 14 Apr 1975: Fredric March, American actor (born 1897) Fredric March was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated stars of the 1930s and 1940s. As a performer he was known for his versatility. He received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, two Tony Awards, two Volpi Cups, the Silver Bear, as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and three Emmy Awards. Read more
• 14 Apr 1969: Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, Spanish actress (born 1900) Matilde Muñoz Sampedro was a Spanish film actress whose career stretched from the 1940s through the 1960s. Read more
• 14 Apr 1968: Al Benton, American baseball player (born 1911) John Alton Benton was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, and Boston Red Sox. The right-hander was listed as 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and 215 pounds (98 kg). Read more
• 14 Apr 1964: Tatyana Afanasyeva, Russian-Dutch mathematician and theorist (born 1876) Tatyana Alexeyevna Afanasyeva-Ehrenfest was a Russian-Dutch mathematician and physicist who made contributions to the fields of statistical mechanics and statistical thermodynamics with her husband Paul Ehrenfest. Read more
• 14 Apr 1964: Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (born 1907) Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose sea trilogy (1941–1955) and book Silent Spring (1962) are credited with advancing marine conservation and the global environmental movement. Read more
• 14 Apr 1963: Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian monk and historian (born 1893) Rahul Sankrityayan was an Indian author, essayist, playwright, historian, and scholar of Buddhism who wrote in Hindi and Bhojpuri. Known as the "father of Hindi travel literature", Sankrityayan played a pivotal role in giving Hindi travelogue a literary form. He was one of the most widely travelled scholars of India, spending forty-five years away from his home, exploring regions such as Russia, Tibet, China, and Central Asia. Read more
• 14 Apr 1962: M. Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer and scholar (born 1860) Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, also referred to by his initials, MV, was an Indian civil engineer, administrator, and statesman, who served as the 19th Dewan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918. Read more
• 14 Apr 1951: Al Christie, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1881) Charles Herbert Christie and Alfred Ernest Christie were Canadian motion picture entrepreneurs. Read more
• 14 Apr 1950: Ramana Maharshi, Indian guru and philosopher (born 1879) Ramana Maharshi was an Indian Hindu sage and jivanmukta. He was born Venkataraman Iyer, but is mostly known by the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Read more
• 14 Apr 1943: Yakov Dzhugashvili, Georgian-Russian lieutenant (born 1907) Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili was the eldest son of Joseph Stalin, and the only child of Stalin's first wife, Kato Svanidze, who died nine months after his birth. Read more
• 14 Apr 1938: Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (born 1893) Gillis Emanuel Grafström was a Swedish figure skater. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He won three successive Olympic gold medals in Men's Figure Skating as well as an Olympic silver medal in the same event in 1932, and three World Championships. Grafström is one of the few athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic games. He and Eddie Eagan are the only athletes to have won gold medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, although Eagan remains the only one to have managed the feat in different disciplines. He is one of the oldest figure skating Olympic champions. Read more
• 14 Apr 1935: Emmy Noether, German-American mathematician and academic (born 1882) Amalie Emmy Noether was a German mathematician who made many important contributions to abstract algebra. She also proved Noether's first and second theorems, which are fundamental in mathematical physics. Noether was described by Pavel Alexandrov, Albert Einstein, Jean Dieudonné, Hermann Weyl, and Norbert Wiener as the most important woman in the history of mathematics. As one of the leading mathematicians of her time, she developed theories of rings, fields, and algebras. In physics, Noether's theorem explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws. Read more
• 14 Apr 1931: Richard Armstedt, German philologist, historian, and educator (born 1851) Richard Armstedt was a German philologist, educator, and historian. Read more
• 14 Apr 1930: Vladimir Mayakovsky, Georgian-Russian actor, playwright, and poet (born 1893) Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Russian Futurist movement. He co-signed the Futurist manifesto, A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (1913), and wrote such poems as A Cloud in Trousers (1915) and Backbone Flute (1916). Mayakovsky produced a large and diverse body of work during the course of his career: he wrote poems, wrote and directed plays, appeared in films, edited the art journal LEF, and produced agitprop posters in support of the Communist Party during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. Read more
• 14 Apr 1925: John Singer Sargent, American painter (born 1856) John Singer Sargent was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Belle Époque and Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, Capri, Spain, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida. Read more
• 14 Apr 1919: Auguste-Réal Angers, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (born 1837) Sir Auguste-Réal Angers was a Canadian judge and parliamentarian, holding seats both as a member of the House of Commons of Canada, and as a Senator. He was born in 1837 probably in Quebec City and died in Westmount, Quebec, in 1919. Read more
• 14 Apr 1917: L. L. Zamenhof, Polish physician and linguist, created Esperanto (born 1859) L. L. Zamenhof was the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language. Read more
• 14 Apr 1916: Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women's rights activist (born 1847) Jørgine Anna Sverdrup "Gina" Krog was a Norwegian suffragist, teacher, liberal politician, writer and editor, and a major figure in liberal feminism in Scandinavia. Read more
• 14 Apr 1914: Hubert Bland, English activist, co-founded the Fabian Society (born 1855) Hubert Bland was an English author. He was known for being an infamous libertine, a journalist, an early English socialist, and one of the founders of the Fabian Society. He was the husband of Edith Nesbit. Read more
• 14 Apr 1912: Henri Brisson, French politician, 50th Prime Minister of France (born 1835) Eugène Henri Brisson was a French statesman, who was twice Prime Minister of France, between 1885–1886 and in 1898. Read more
• 14 Apr 1911: Addie Joss, American baseball player and journalist (born 1880) Adrian "Addie" Joss, nicknamed "the Human Hairpin", was an American professional baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Cleveland Bronchos of Major League Baseball, later known as the Naps, between 1902 and 1910. Joss, who was 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg), pitched the fourth perfect game in baseball history. His 1.89 career earned run average (ERA) is the second-lowest in MLB history, behind Ed Walsh, while his career WHIP of 0.968 is the lowest of all-time. Read more
• 14 Apr 1911: Henri Elzéar Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 4th Chief Justice of Canada (born 1836) Sir Henri-Elzéar Taschereau, was a Canadian jurist and the fourth Chief Justice of Canada. Read more
• 14 Apr 1910: Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter and sculptor (born 1856) Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various media such as painting, drawing, decorative sculpture, and theatrical art, Vrubel is generally characterized as one of the most important artists in Russian symbolist tradition and a pioneering figure of Modernist art. Read more
• 14 Apr 1888: Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (born 1824) Emilian Czyrniański was a Polish chemist of Lemko descent, science writer, rector of the Jagiellonian University and co-founder of the Polish Academy of Learning. He is responsible for developing chemical nomenclature in Polish. One of his grandsons was the highly influential political activist and writer, Józef Retinger. Read more
• 14 Apr 1886: Anna Louisa Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint, Dutch novelist (born 1812) Anna Louisa Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint was a Dutch novelist. Read more
• 14 Apr 1864: Charles Lot Church, American-Canadian politician (born 1777) Charles Lot Church was a political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Lunenburg County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1820 to 1830. Read more
• 14 Apr 1843: Joseph Lanner, Austrian violinist and composer (born 1801) Joseph Lanner was an Austrian dance music composer and dance orchestra conductor. He is best remembered as one of the earliest Viennese composers to reform the waltz from a simple peasant dance to something that even the highest society could enjoy, either as an accompaniment to the dance, or for the music's own sake. He was just as famous as his friend and musical rival Johann Strauss I, who was better known outside of Austria in their day because of his concert tours abroad, in particular to France and England. Read more

Why is 14 April Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 14 April, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 14 April in World history?

On 14 April, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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