History of Today in India – 22 April

Explore the history of today 22 April in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 22 April 2026, 04:21 AM

📜 Important Events on 22 April in World History

22 Apr 2025: At least 26 people are killed in a terrorist attack on a group of tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility for the attack. Read more
22 Apr 2020: Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history. Read more
22 Apr 2016: The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming. Read more
22 Apr 2005: Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record. Read more
22 Apr 1993: Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham. Read more
22 Apr 1992: A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206. Read more
22 Apr 1977: Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic. Read more
22 Apr 1974: Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board. Read more
22 Apr 1970: The first Earth Day is celebrated. Read more
22 Apr 1970: Chicano residents in San Diego, California occupy a site under the Coronado Bridge, leading to the creation of Chicano Park. Read more
22 Apr 1969: British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world. Read more
22 Apr 1969: The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta. Read more
22 Apr 1966: American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D crashes on approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport in Ardmore, Oklahoma, killing 83. Read more
22 Apr 1954: Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins. Read more
22 Apr 1951: Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the Battle of Kapyong. Read more
22 Apr 1948: Arab–Israeli War: The port city of Haifa is captured by Jewish forces. Read more
22 Apr 1945: World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and around eighty escape. Read more
22 Apr 1945: World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army. Read more
22 Apr 1944: World War II: The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat search and rescue operations in the China Burma India Theater. Read more
22 Apr 1944: World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station. Read more
22 Apr 1944: World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea. Read more
22 Apr 1930: The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding. Read more
22 Apr 1915: World War I: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres. Read more
22 Apr 1906: The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens. Read more
22 Apr 1898: Spanish–American War: President William McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to join the National Guard and fight in Cuba, while Congress more than doubles regular Army forces to 65,000. Read more
22 Apr 1889: At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000. Read more
22 Apr 1876: The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia. Read more
22 Apr 1864: The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency. Read more
22 Apr 1836: Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna among the captives of the battle when some of his fellow soldiers mistakenly give away his identity. Read more
22 Apr 1809: The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: The Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon and driven over the Danube in Regensburg. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 22 April in World History

22 Apr 2011: Violet McGraw, American actress Violet Elizabeth McGraw is an American actress. Her acting debut was a recurring role in the 2016 television series Love as Nina, and her first feature film was 2018's Ready Player One. In 2019 she was nominated for an OFTA Television Award for Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Limited Series for The Haunting of Hill House. She is also known for her roles as a young Yelena Belova in the Marvel Studios superhero films Black Widow (2021) and Thunderbolts* (2025), and as Cady in the horror films M3GAN (2022) and M3GAN 2.0 (2025). Read more
22 Apr 1992: Adam Lanza, American mass murderer (died 2012) Adam Peter Lanza was an American mass murderer who perpetrated the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, one of the deadliest school shootings in the US. On December 14, 2012, he fatally shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he killed 20 children between the ages of six and seven, and six adult staff members. He then killed himself as law enforcement arrived at the school. Read more
22 Apr 1991: Danni Wyatt, English cricketer Danielle Nicole Wyatt-Hodge is an English cricketer who plays for Surrey, Southern Brave, England and Gujarat Giants. She plays as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm off break. She made her England debut against India in Mumbai on 1 March 2010. Read more
22 Apr 1990: Machine Gun Kelly, American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor Colson Baker, known professionally as MGK and formerly Machine Gun Kelly, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and actor. His original stage name "Machine Gun Kelly" was derived from the nickname of Prohibition-era gangster George Kelly Barnes. Read more
22 Apr 1990: Kevin Kiermaier, American baseball player Kevin James Kiermaier is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2013 to 2024 for the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Known for his strong defense, Kiermaier won the Gold Glove Award for center fielders in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023, and the Platinum Glove Award in 2015. Read more
22 Apr 1990: Eve Muirhead, Scottish curler Eve Muirhead is a Scottish former curler from Perth and a former skip of the British Olympic curling team. Muirhead and the GB team became Olympic champions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Read more
22 Apr 1988: Dee Strange-Gordon, American baseball player Devaris "Dee" Strange-Gordon, formerly known as Dee Gordon, is an American former professional baseball second baseman, shortstop, and center fielder. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals. Read more
22 Apr 1987: David Luiz, Brazilian footballer David Luiz Moreira Marinho is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Cypriot First Division club Pafos. He is primarily a centre-back, but has also been deployed as a defensive midfielder. Noted for his presence on the pitch as well as his specialty in taking free-kicks, Luiz is considered amongst the best defenders of his generation. Read more
22 Apr 1986: Amber Heard, American actress Amber Laura Heard is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006), and went on to star in films such as The Ward (2010), Drive Angry (2011), and London Fields (2018). Read more
22 Apr 1986: Marshawn Lynch, American football player Marshawn Terrell Lynch is an American former professional football running back and actor who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. Nicknamed "Beast Mode", he spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Seahawks. He played college football for the California Golden Bears, earning first-team All-American honors and winning Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year in 2006. Lynch was selected in the first round of the 2007 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills, where he played three full seasons and earned Pro Bowl honors in 2008. He was traded to the Seahawks during the 2010 season. Read more
22 Apr 1983: Sam W. Heads, English-American entomologist and palaeontologist Sam W. Heads is a British palaeontologist, a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, as well as a former Officer and Editor-in-Chief at the Orthopterists' Society. Read more
22 Apr 1983: Shkëlzen Shala, Albanian entrepreneur and veganism activist Shkëlzen Shala is a Kosovo Albanian entrepreneur, gastronome and veganism activist based in Pristina, Kosovo. Read more
22 Apr 1982: Kaká, Brazilian footballer Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, commonly known as Kaká or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Kaká was known for his explosive pace, dribbling, passing, and goalscoring, and is considered one of the greatest players of all time. With success for both club and country, he is one of the ten players to win the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or. Read more
22 Apr 1980: Quincy Timberlake, Kenyan-Australian activist, engineer, and politician Quincy Zuma Wambitta Timberlake is a Kenyan political activist, occultist, and former presidential candidate, now resident in Australia. Along with Esther Arunga and Joseph Hellon, he is the co-founder of the PlaCenta Party of Kenya, which according to its manifesto aims "to promote and protect individual rights and freedoms set forth in the Kenyan Constitution and to limit the scope of national government authority and spending." Read more
22 Apr 1979: Zoltán Gera, Hungarian international footballer and manager Zoltán Gera is a Hungarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Fulham, Pécsi Mecsek and Harkány SE, as well as enjoying two spells at Ferencváros and West Bromwich Albion. Read more
22 Apr 1979: Daniel Johns, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist Daniel Paul Johns is an Australian musician, best known as the frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociatives with Paul Mac and one half of Dreams with Luke Steele. On March 13, 2015 Johns released his first solo EP Aerial Love and on March 22, 2015, he released his first solo LP Talk. Johns' second solo album FutureNever was released on 22 April 2022. Read more
22 Apr 1978: Paul Malakwen Kosgei, Kenyan runner and coach Paul Malakwen Kosgei is a Kenyan long-distance and marathon runner. He first came to prominence in athletics by taking the World Junior Record of 3000m steeple in 1997, and later with consecutive medals at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from 1998 to 2000. Read more
22 Apr 1976: Dan Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Daniel Cloutier is a Canadian ice hockey executive and former player. Previously a goaltender, he holds an executive position with the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Guelph Storm, the team with which he completed his junior career. In his 10-year National Hockey League (NHL) career, Cloutier played with the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings, spending the majority of his career in Vancouver. He employed a combination of both butterfly and stand-up goaltending and was known for wearing the uncommon birdcage-style helmet. Read more
22 Apr 1970: Regine Velasquez, Filipino singer and actress Regina Encarnacion Ansong Velasquez is a Filipino singer and actress. She is considered one of the most influential figures in Philippine popular culture and is known for her vocal range and belting technique. She had unorthodox voice training during her childhood, where she was immersed neck-deep in the sea. Velasquez rose to prominence after winning the television talent show Ang Bagong Kampeon in 1984 and the Asia Pacific Singing Contest in 1989. Under the name Chona, she signed a recording contract with OctoArts International in 1986 and released the single "Love Me Again", which was commercially unsuccessful. The following year, she adopted the stage name Regine Velasquez for her debut studio album, Regine (1987), under the guidance of Viva Records executive Vic del Rosario and producer Ronnie Henares. She explored Manila sound and kundiman genres on her second and third studio albums, Nineteen 90 (1990) and Tagala Talaga (1991). Read more
22 Apr 1967: David J. C. MacKay, English physicist, engineer, and academic (died 2016) Sir David John Cameron MacKay was a British physicist, mathematician, and academic. He was the Regius Professor of Engineering in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and from 2009 to 2014 was Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). MacKay wrote the book Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air. Read more
22 Apr 1967: Sherri Shepherd, American actress, comedian, and television personality Sherri Evonne Shepherd is an American actress, comedian, author, podcaster, television presenter and talk show host. She currently hosts the daily syndicated daytime talk show Sherri. From 2007 to 2014, Shepherd was a co-host of the daytime talk show The View, for which she received multiple Daytime Emmy Award nominations, winning one in 2009. She hosted Dish Nation from 2019 to December 2022, with her final months in limited episodes due to her talk show. She also starred in the sitcoms The Jamie Foxx Show (1999-2001), Less than Perfect (2002–2006), Sherri (2009), Trial & Error (2017–2018), and Mr. Iglesias (2019–2020). Read more
22 Apr 1966: Mickey Morandini, American baseball player and manager Michael Robert "Mickey" Morandini, is an American former professional baseball second baseman and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and Toronto Blue Jays. His career highlights include selection as a 1995 National League (NL) All-Star, playing for the Phillies in the 1993 NL Championship Series and World Series, and appearing for the Cubs in the 1998 NL Division Series. Read more
22 Apr 1966: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, American actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor. He is best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead (2016–2022) and its spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City (2023–present), for both of which he has received critical acclaim. He also appeared in television roles including: John Winchester in the CW fantasy horror series Supernatural, Denny Duquette in the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy (2006–2009), Jason Crouse in the CBS political drama series The Good Wife (2015–2016), Joe Kessler in the Amazon Prime Video adult superhero series' The Boys (2024–present), and Conquest in Invincible (2025–present). His film roles include: William Gallagher in P.S. I Love You (2007), the Comedian in the superhero film Watchmen (2009), Clay in The Losers (2010), Sgt. Maj Andrew Tanner in Red Dawn (2012), and Agent Harvey Russell in Rampage (2018). He also starred as a pivotal character in the History Channel's miniseries about the war with Mexico for the creation of Texas, Texas Rising (2015). Read more
22 Apr 1963: Rosalind Gill, English sociologist and academic Rosalind Clair Gill is a British sociologist and feminist cultural theorist. She is currently Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at City, University of London. Gill is author or editor of ten books, and numerous articles and chapters, and her work has been translated into Chinese, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish. Read more
22 Apr 1963: Sean Lock, English comedian and actor (died 2021) Sean Lock was an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian. In 2000, Lock won the British Comedy Award, in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. He was a team captain on the Channel 4 comedy panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats from 2005 to 2015, and on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown from 2012 until his death in 2021. Read more
22 Apr 1962: Jeff Minter, British video game designer and programmer Jeff Minter is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the nickname Yak. He co-founded independent video game developer Llamasoft in 1982 and was the sole game designer and programmer until Ivan Zorzin started being co-credited in 2008. Minter has created dozens of games, starting in 1981 for the ZX80, then later the ZX Spectrum, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit computers, Amiga, Atari ST, Jaguar, and other systems. A majority of Minter's projects are shoot 'em ups, often based on games from the golden age of arcade video games such as Defender, Tempest, and Robotron: 2084. Minter has evolved a game design style which combines psychedelic visuals, references to ruminants, and quirky audio samples. Read more
22 Apr 1962: Danièle Sauvageau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Danièle Sauvageau is a Canadian ice hockey executive and former coach. Sauvageau was the head coach of the Canadian national women's hockey team that won the gold medal in ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Sauvageau was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2025 as a builder. Read more
22 Apr 1961: Jeff Hostetler, American football player William Jeffrey Hostetler is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants, Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins. He won Super Bowl XXV with the Giants after taking over late in the regular season for an injured Phil Simms. His nickname is "Hoss." Read more
22 Apr 1961: Alo Mattiisen, Estonian composer (died 1996) Alo Mattiisen was an Estonian musician and composer. Read more
22 Apr 1960: Mart Laar, Estonian historian and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Estonia Mart Laar is an Estonian politician and historian. He served as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002. Laar is credited with having helped bring about Estonia's rapid economic development during the 1990s. He is a member of the centre-right Isamaa party. Read more
22 Apr 1959: Terry Francona, American baseball player and manager Terry Jon Francona, nicknamed "Tito", is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously managed the Cleveland Indians/Guardians, Boston Red Sox, and Philadelphia Phillies. Francona played in MLB from 1981 to 1988 for the Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, and Milwaukee Brewers. Read more
22 Apr 1959: Ryan Stiles, American-Canadian actor and comedian Ryan Lee Stiles is an American-Canadian comedian and actor. His work is often associated with improvisational comedy. He is best known for his work on Whose Line Is It Anyway and for his role as Lewis Kiniski on The Drew Carey Show. He also played Herb Melnick on the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men and was a performer on the show Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. Read more
22 Apr 1957: Donald Tusk, Polish journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Poland Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019 and led the European People's Party from 2019 to 2022. He co-founded the Civic Platform (PO), one of the dominant Polish political parties, and was its longtime leader – from 2003 to 2014 and again from 2021 to 2025 – before it merged into the Civic Coalition (KO) party. He is the longest-serving prime minister of the Third Polish Republic. Read more
22 Apr 1952: Marilyn Chambers, American actress Marilyn Ann Taylor, known professionally as Marilyn Chambers, was an American pornographic actress, exotic dancer, model, actress, singer, and vice-presidential candidate. She was known for her 1972 hardcore film debut, Behind the Green Door, and her 1980 pornographic film Insatiable. She ranked at No. 6 on the list of Top 50 Porn Stars of All Time by AVN, and ranked as one of Playboy's Top 100 Sex Stars of the Century in 1999. Although she was primarily known for her adult film work, she made a successful transition to mainstream projects and has been called "porn's most famous crossover". Read more
22 Apr 1951: Aivars Kalējs, Latvian organist, composer, and pianist Aivars Kalējs is a Latvian composer, organist and pianist. Read more
22 Apr 1951: Ana María Shua, Argentinian author and poet Ana María Shua is an Argentine writer. She is particularly well known for her work in microfiction. Read more
22 Apr 1950: Peter Frampton, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands The Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a solo artist. He has released several albums, including his breakthrough album, the live recording Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), which spawned several hit singles and has been certified 8× Platinum by the RIAA in the United States. He has also worked with various other acts such as Ringo Starr, John Entwistle of the Who, David Bowie, Joe Bonamassa, and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. Read more
22 Apr 1950: Jancis Robinson, English journalist and critic Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She provided advice for the wine cellar of Queen Elizabeth II. Read more
22 Apr 1950: Lee Tamahori, New Zealand film director (died 2025) Warren Lee Tamahori was a New Zealand film director. Read more
22 Apr 1949: Spencer Haywood, American basketball player Spencer Haywood is an American former professional basketball player and Olympic gold medalist. Haywood is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2015. Read more
22 Apr 1948: John Pritchard, English bishop John Lawrence Pritchard is a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Oxford from 2007 to 2014. He is in the Open Evangelical tradition. Read more
22 Apr 1946: Steven L. Bennett, American captain and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1972) Steven Logan Bennett was a United States Air Force pilot who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War. Read more
22 Apr 1946: Paul Davies, English physicist and author Paul Charles William Davies is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute for Quantum Studies in Chapman University in California. He previously held academic appointments in the University of Cambridge, University College London, King's College London, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. His research interests are in the fields of cosmology, quantum field theory, and astrobiology. Read more
22 Apr 1946: Louise Harel, Canadian lawyer and politician Louise Harel is a Quebec politician. In 2005 she served as interim leader of the Parti Québécois following the resignation of Bernard Landry. She was also interim leader of the opposition in the National Assembly of Quebec. She represented the riding of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in the Montreal region, and its predecessors, from 1981 to 2008. She ran for Mayor of Montreal as the representative of the Vision Montreal municipal political party in the 2009 election, but was defeated by incumbent Gérald Tremblay. In the 2013 Montreal election, Harel supported federalist Marcel Côté for mayor but failed to be elected to her own council seat. Read more
22 Apr 1946: Archy Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, Scottish lawyer and politician Archibald Johnstone Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope,, is a British Liberal Democrat politician. Read more
22 Apr 1946: Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, English economist and academic Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford,, is a British economist, banker, and academic. He is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE), and 2010 Professor of Collège de France. He was President of the British Academy from 2013 to 2017, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014. Read more
22 Apr 1946: John Waters, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter John Samuel Waters Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972), and Female Trouble (1974). Waters wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical and a 2007 musical film. His other films include Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), and Cecil B. Demented (2000), each containing elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism. Read more
22 Apr 1945: Eddy Baldewijns, Belgian politician Edouard S. L. L. J. Baldewijns is a Belgian politician, member of the Chamber of Representatives and Flemish Government minister. A member of the Belgian Socialist Party and its successor the Flemish Socialist Party, he represented Hasselt from April 1977 to May 1995 and Hasselt-Tongeren-Maaseik from June 1999 to December 1999. He was the Flemish Minister of Public Works, Transport and Spatial Planning from June 1995 to September 1998 and Minister of Education and Civil Service Affairs from September 1998 to July 1999. He was also a member of the Flemish Parliament and its predecessors, the Flemish Council and the Cultural Council for the Dutch Cultural Community, from May 1977 to July 1995. Read more
22 Apr 1945: Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Indian civil servant and politician, 22nd Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22nd Governor of West Bengal from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). As a former IAS officer he served as Secretary to the President of India and as High Commissioner to South Africa and Sri Lanka, among other administrative and diplomatic posts. He was the United Progressive Alliance nominee for Vice President of India in the 2017 vice-presidential elections and lost with 244 votes against NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu, who got 516 votes. Read more
22 Apr 1945: Demetrio Stratos, Greek-Egyptian singer-songwriter (died 1979) Efstratios Dimitriou, known professionally as Demetrio Stratos, was a Greek-Italian vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music researcher, best known as the co-founder, frontman and lead singer of the Italian progressive rock band Area – International POPular Group. Read more
22 Apr 1944: Steve Fossett, American businessman, pilot, and sailor (died 2007) James Stephen Fossett was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraft. He made his fortune in the financial services industry and held world records for five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo flight fixed-wing aircraft pilot. Read more
22 Apr 1944: Doug Jarrett, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2014) Douglas William Jarrett was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers. Read more
22 Apr 1944: Joshua Rifkin, American conductor and musicologist Joshua Rifkin is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist. He is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer, he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre Revueltas; as a scholar he has published research on composers from the Renaissance to the 20th century. Read more
22 Apr 1943: Keith Crisco, American businessman and politician (died 2014) John Keith Crisco Sr. was an American businessman and public official from the State of North Carolina. Read more
22 Apr 1943: Janet Evanovich, American author Janet Evanovich is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a former lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to make ends meet after losing her job. The novels in this series have been on The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestseller lists. Evanovich has had her last seventeen Plums debut at #1 on the NY Times Best Sellers list and eleven of them have hit #1 on USA Today Best-Selling Books list. She has over two hundred million books in print worldwide, and her books have been translated into over 40 languages. Read more
22 Apr 1943: Louise Glück, American poet (died 2023) Louise Elisabeth Glück was an American poet and essayist. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, whose judges praised "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal". Her other awards include the Pulitzer Prize, National Humanities Medal, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Bollingen Prize. From 2003 to 2004, she was Poet Laureate of the United States. Read more
22 Apr 1943: John Maples, Baron Maples, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (died 2012) John Cradock Maples, Baron Maples was a British politician and life peer who served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1989 to 1992 and Shadow Foreign Secretary from 1999 to 2000. He is a former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham West from 1983 to 1992 and Stratford-upon-Avon from 1997 to 2010. Read more
22 Apr 1943: Scott W. Williams, American mathematician and professor Scott Williams is a professor of mathematics at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. He was recognized by Mathematically Gifted & Black as a Black History Month 2017 Honoree. Read more
22 Apr 1942: Giorgio Agamben, Italian philosopher and academic Giorgio Agamben is an Italian philosopher whose work spans political theory, ontology, aesthetics, and literature. He is best known for developing the concepts of the state of exception and homo sacer, which explore the relationship between sovereignty, legal authority, and what he calls 'bare life'. His writings draw on sources including Aristotle, Roman law, Christian theology, Martin Heidegger, Walter Benjamin, Ludwig Wittgenstein, St. Augustine and Carl Schmitt among others, and engage critically with Michel Foucault’s account of biopolitics and biopower. Agamben’s multi-volume Homo Sacer project has been widely discussed within political philosophy, jurisprudence, anthropology, and the humanities, and he is considered one of the most influential writers in contemporary continental philosophy. Read more
22 Apr 1942: Mary Prior, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Bristol Alice Mary Prior served as Lord Lieutenant of Bristol from 2007 to 2017. She is currently the Pro-chancellor of University of Bristol and a trustee of the environmental fund Viridor Credits. Read more
22 Apr 1941: Greville Howard, Baron Howard of Rising, English politician Greville Patrick Charles Howard, Baron Howard of Rising is a British Conservative politician and, before the 2010 general election, was variously an Opposition Whip and Shadow Minister for Cabinet Office, for Treasury and for Culture, Media and Sport. Read more
22 Apr 1939: Mel Carter, American singer and actor Mel Carter is an American soul and pop singer and actor. He is best known for his 1965 million-selling recording "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me". Read more
22 Apr 1939: John Foley, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey Lieutenant-General Sir John Paul Foley, is a retired British Army officer with a long career in military intelligence. He is the great-grandson of Henry Hodgetts-Foley, and was educated at Bradfield College. Read more
22 Apr 1939: Ray Guy, Canadian journalist and author (died 2013) Ray Guy was a Canadian journalist and humourist, best known for his satirical newspaper and magazine columns. Read more
22 Apr 1939: Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (died 2001) Jason Miller was an American playwright and actor. He won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play for his play That Championship Season, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Father Damien Karras in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, a role he reprised in The Exorcist III (1990). He later became artistic director of the Scranton Public Theatre in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where That Championship Season was set. Read more
22 Apr 1939: Theodor Waigel, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Finance Theodor Waigel is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). He represented Neu-Ulm in the Bundestag from 1976 to 2002. Read more
22 Apr 1938: Alan Bond, English-Australian businessman (died 2015) Alan Bond was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s; the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history; and also his criminal conviction that saw him serve four years in prison. He is also remembered for bankrolling the successful challenge for the 1983 America's Cup, the first time the New York Yacht Club had lost it in its 132-year history. He also founded Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. Read more
22 Apr 1938: Gani Fawehinmi, Nigerian lawyer and activist (died 2009) Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi,, SAN, was a Nigerian author, publisher, philanthropist, social critic, human and civil rights lawyer, and politician. Read more
22 Apr 1938: Issey Miyake, Japanese fashion designer (died 2022) Issey Miyake was a Japanese fashion designer. He was known for his technology-driven clothing designs, notably the Pleats, Please line, exhibitions and fragrances such as L'eau d'Issey. Read more
22 Apr 1938: Adam Raphael, English journalist and author

Adam Eliot Geoffrey Raphael is an English journalist and author. In the British Press Awards of 1973, he was named Journalist of the Year for his work on labour conditions in South Africa, and he has also been a presenter of BBC Television's Newsnight. Since 2004, he has edited The Good Hotel Guide. He is not to be confused with a BBC producer of the same name, Adam Jocelyn Raphael (1937–1999). Read more
22 Apr 1937: Jack Nicholson, American actor and producer John Joseph Nicholson is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing charismatic rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-decade-long career, he received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. Read more
22 Apr 1937: Jack Nitzsche, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (died 2000) Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and others. He worked extensively in film scores for the films Performance, The Exorcist and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In 1983, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing "Up Where We Belong" with Buffy Sainte-Marie. Read more
22 Apr 1936: Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2017) Glen Travis Campbell was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television from 1969 until 1972. A revered session guitarist before breaking through as a solo performer, Campbell released 64 albums in a career that spanned five decades, selling over 45 million records worldwide, including twelve gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album. Read more
22 Apr 1936: Pierre Hétu, Canadian pianist and conductor (died 1998) Pierre Hétu was a conductor and pianist. He studied music from 1955–57 at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal with Germaine Malépart (piano) and at the University of Montreal with Jean Papineau-Couture (acoustics), Gabriel Cusson and Conrad Letendre and Jean Vallerand. Read more
22 Apr 1935: Christopher Ball, English linguist and academic
Sir Christopher John Elinger Ball is a British academic, who served as Warden of Keble College, Oxford, from 1980 to 1988, and as the first Chancellor of the University of Derby, from 1995 to 2003. Read more
22 Apr 1935: Paul Chambers, African-American bassist and composer (died 1969) Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers Jr. was an American jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, he has become one of the most widely-known jazz bassists of the hard bop era. He was also known for his bowed solos. Chambers recorded about a dozen albums as a leader or co-leader, and more than 100 as a sideman, especially as the anchor of trumpeter Miles Davis's "first great quintet" (1955–63) and with pianist Wynton Kelly (1963–68). Read more
22 Apr 1935: Bhama Srinivasan, Indian-American mathematician and academic Bhama Srinivasan was a mathematician known for her work in the representation theory of finite groups. Her contributions were honored with the 1990 Noether Lecture. She served as president of the Association for Women in Mathematics from 1981 to 1983. Read more
22 Apr 1933: Anthony Llewellyn, Welsh-American chemist and astronaut (died 2013) John Anthony Llewellyn was a Welsh chemist and a NOAA aquanaut. In August 1967, Llewellyn was one of only two non-American astronaut candidates selected by NASA as part of NASA Astronaut Group 6. Read more
22 Apr 1931: John Buchanan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Nova Scotia (died 2019) John MacLennan Buchanan was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th premier of Nova Scotia from 1978 to 1990 and as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1990 to 2006. Read more
22 Apr 1931: Ronald Hynd, English dancer and choreographer
Ronald Hynd is an English choreographer and former ballet dancer. Read more
22 Apr 1930: Enno Penno, Estonian politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (died 2016) Enno Penno was an Estonian politician, who was acting as Acting Prime Minister of Estonia in exile from 1 March 1990 to 20 June 1992. Read more
22 Apr 1929: Michael Atiyah, English-Lebanese mathematician and academic (died 2019) Sir Michael Francis Atiyah was a British-Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry. His contributions include the Atiyah–Singer index theorem and co-founding topological K-theory. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 and the Abel Prize in 2004. Read more
22 Apr 1929: Robert Wade-Gery, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to India (died 2015)

Sir Robert Wade-Gery was a British diplomat who was High Commissioner to India 1982–87. Read more
22 Apr 1928: Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian (died 2022) Estelle Harris was an American actress and comedian, known for her exaggeratedly shrill voice. She was best known for her role as Estelle Costanza on Seinfeld. Her other roles included the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise, Muriel in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and Mama Gunda in Tarzan II. During her career, Harris starred in various television commercials. Read more
22 Apr 1927: Laurel Aitken, Cuban-Jamaican singer (died 2005) Lorenzo "Laurel" Aitken was a Cuban-Jamaican singer and one of the pioneers of ska music. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of Ska". Read more
22 Apr 1926: Charlotte Rae, American actress and singer (died 2018) Charlotte Rae Lubotsky was an American comedic actress and singer whose career spanned 66 years. Read more
22 Apr 1926: James Stirling, Scottish architect, designed the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Seeley Historical Library (died 1992) Sir James Frazer Stirling was a British architect. Read more
22 Apr 1924: Nam Duck-woo, South Korean politician, 12th Prime Minister of South Korea (died 2013) Nam Duck-woo was the prime minister of South Korea from 1980 to 1982. Read more
22 Apr 1923: Peter Kane Dufault, American soldier, pilot, and poet (died 2013) Peter Kane Dufault was an American poet. He was born in New Jersey. Read more
22 Apr 1923: Bettie Page, American model and actress (died 2008) Bettie Mae Page was an American model who gained recognition in the 1950s for her pin-up photos. She was often referred to as the "Queen of Pinups": her long jet-black hair, blue eyes, and trademark bangs have influenced artists for generations. After her death, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner called her "a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society". Read more
22 Apr 1923: Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2006) Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer and occasional actor. His productions included the television series Family (1976–1980); Charlie's Angels (1976–1981); The Love Boat (1977–1986); Hart to Hart (1979–1984); Dynasty (1981–1989); Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000); Melrose Place (1992–1999); 7th Heaven (1996–2007); and Charmed (1998–2006). He also served as producer of The Mod Squad (1968–1973), The Rookies (1972–1976) and Sunset Beach (1997–1999). Read more
22 Apr 1922: Richard Diebenkorn, American soldier and painter (died 1993) Richard Diebenkorn was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s, he began his extensive series of geometric, lyrical abstract paintings. Known as the Ocean Park paintings, these paintings were instrumental to his achievement of worldwide acclaim. Art critic Michael Kimmelman described Diebenkorn as "one of the premier American painters of the postwar era, whose deeply lyrical abstractions evoked the shimmering light and wide-open spaces of California, where he spent virtually his entire life." Read more
22 Apr 1922: Charles Mingus, American bassist, composer, and bandleader (died 1979) Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz greats, such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Max Roach, and Eric Dolphy. Mingus's work ranged from advanced bebop and avant-garde jazz with small and midsize ensembles to pioneering the post-bop style on seminal recordings like Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) and Mingus Ah Um (1959) and progressive big band experiments such as The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963). Read more
22 Apr 1922: Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist and academic (died 1973) Wolf Vladimir Vishniac was an American microbiologist. He was the son of photographer Roman Vishniac and the father of astronomer Ethan Vishniac. Educated at Brooklyn College and Stanford University, he was a professor of biology at the University of Rochester. He died on a research trip to the Antarctic attempting to retrieve equipment in a crevasse. The crater Vishniac on Mars is named in his honor. Read more
22 Apr 1919: Donald J. Cram, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2001) Donald James Cram was an American chemist who shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jean-Marie Lehn and Charles J. Pedersen "for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity." They were the founders of the field of host–guest chemistry. Read more
22 Apr 1919: Carl Lindner, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (died 2011) Carl Henry Lindner Jr. was an American businessman from Norwood, Ohio, a member of the Lindner family, and one of the world's richest people. According to the 2010 issue of Forbes Billionaires List, Lindner was worth an estimated $1.7 billion. Read more
22 Apr 1918: William Jay Smith, American poet and academic (died 2015) William Jay Smith was an American poet. He was appointed the nineteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970. Read more
22 Apr 1918: Mickey Vernon, American baseball player and coach (died 2008) James Barton "Mickey" Vernon was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox (1956–1957), Milwaukee Braves (1959) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1960). He also was the first manager in the history of the expansion edition of the Senators, serving from 1961 through May 21, 1963, and was a coach for four MLB teams between 1960 and 1982. Read more
22 Apr 1917: Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina (died 2016) Yvette Chauviré was a French prima ballerina assoluta and actress. She is often described as France's greatest ballerina, and was the mentor of another pair of well-known prima ballerinas named, Sylvie Guillem and Marie-Claude Pietragalla. She was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in 1964. Read more
22 Apr 1917: Sidney Nolan, Australian painter (died 1992) Sir Sidney Robert Nolan was one of the leading Australian artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of media, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known for his series of paintings on legends from Australian history, most famously that of Ned Kelly, the bushranger and outlaw. Nolan's stylised depiction of Kelly's armour has become an icon of Australian art. Read more
22 Apr 1916: Hanfried Lenz, German mathematician and academic (died 2013) Hanfried Lenz was a German mathematician, who is mainly known for his work in geometry and combinatorics. Read more
22 Apr 1916: Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (died 1999) Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, was an American-born British and Swiss violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. Read more
22 Apr 1914: Baldev Raj Chopra, Indian director and producer (died 2008) Baldev Raj Chopra was a prolific Indian director and producer noted for pioneering the Hindi film industry and television series. He's known for directing notable films, such as Afsana, Ek Hi Raasta, Naya Daur, Sadhna, Kanoon, Gumrah, Hamraaz, Dhund, Pati Patni Aur Woh, Insaf Ka Tarazu and Nikaah. He also produced hit films, including Dhool Ka Phool, Waqt, Ittefaq, Aadmi Aur Insaan, Chhoti Si Baat, The Burning Train, Aaj Ki Awaaz, Baghban and the TV series, Mahabharat. He was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema, for the year 1998, and Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in 2001. Read more
22 Apr 1914: Jan de Hartog, Dutch-American author and playwright (died 2002) Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker. Read more
22 Apr 1914: José Quiñones Gonzales, Peruvian soldier and pilot (died 1941) José Abelardo Quiñones Gonzáles was a Peruvian military aviator who posthumously became a national hero for his actions at the Battle of Zarumilla during the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941. Read more
22 Apr 1914: Michael Wittmann, German SS officer (died 1944) Michael Wittmann was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. He is known for his ambush of elements of the British 7th Armoured Division during the Battle of Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944. While in command of a Tiger I tank, Wittmann destroyed up to 14 tanks, 15 personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns within 15 minutes before the loss of his own tank. Read more
22 Apr 1912: Kathleen Ferrier, English operatic singer (died 1953) Kathleen Mary Ferrier was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar. Her death from cancer, at the height of her fame, was a shock to the musical world and particularly to the general public, which was kept in ignorance of the nature of her illness until after her death. Read more
22 Apr 1912: Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012) Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include Children of Hiroshima, The Naked Island, Onibaba, Kuroneko and A Last Note. His screenplays were filmed by directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kōzaburō Yoshimura, Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Seijun Suzuki, and Tadashi Imai. Read more
22 Apr 1910: Norman Steenrod, American mathematician and academic (died 1971) Norman Earl Steenrod was an American mathematician most widely known for his contributions to the field of algebraic topology. Read more
22 Apr 1909: Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2012) Rita Levi-Montalcini was an Italian neurobiologist. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF). Read more
22 Apr 1909: Indro Montanelli, Italian journalist and historian (died 2001) Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli was an Italian journalist, historian, and writer. Read more
22 Apr 1909: Spyros Markezinis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 2000) Spyridon "Spyros" Markezinis was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly the Prime Minister of Greece during the aborted attempt at metapolitefsi (democratization) of the Greek military regime in 1973. Read more
22 Apr 1906: Eric Fenby, English composer and educator (died 1997) Eric William Fenby OBE was an English composer, conductor, pianist, organist and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius's amanuensis from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius realise a number of works that would not otherwise have been forthcoming. Read more
22 Apr 1906: Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (died 1947) Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten was a Swedish prince who for most of his life was second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne with the title of Hereditary Prince. Read more
22 Apr 1905: Robert Choquette, American-Canadian author, poet, and diplomat (died 1991) Robert Guy Choquette was a Canadian novelist, poet and diplomat. Read more
22 Apr 1904: J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (died 1967) J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons. Read more
22 Apr 1900: Nellie Beer, British politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (died 1988)
Nellie Beer, OBE, JP, was a Conservative member of Manchester City Council from 1937 to 1972. She was Lord Mayor of Manchester from 1966 to 1967. Read more
22 Apr 1899: Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist and critic (died 1977) Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin, was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian (1926–1938) while living in Berlin, where he met his wife, Véra Nabokov (née Slonim). He achieved international acclaim and prominence after moving to the United States, where he began writing in English. Trilingual in Russian, English, and French, Nabokov became a U.S. citizen in 1945 and lived mostly on the East Coast before returning to Europe in 1961, where he settled in Montreux, Switzerland. Read more
22 Apr 1892: Vernon Johns, African-American minister and activist (died 1965) Dr. Vernon Johns was an American minister based in the South and a pioneer in the civil rights movement. He is best known as the pastor (1947–52) of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was succeeded there by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Read more
22 Apr 1891: Laura Gilpin, American photographer (died 1979) Laura Gilpin was an American photographer. Read more
22 Apr 1891: Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (died 1965) Vittorio Jano was an Italian automobile designer of Hungarian descent, active in European racing car engine design from the 1920s through 1960s. Read more
22 Apr 1891: Harold Jeffreys, English mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (died 1989) Sir Harold Jeffreys, FRS was a British geophysicist who made significant contributions to mathematics and statistics. His book, Theory of Probability, which was first published in 1939, played an important role in the revival of the objective Bayesian view of probability. Read more
22 Apr 1891: Nicola Sacco, Italian-American anarchist (died 1927) Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists, controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a guard and a paymaster, during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Seven years later, they were executed in the electric chair at Charlestown State Prison. Most historians consider their conviction unfair due to prejudice against immigrants and radicals. Read more
22 Apr 1889: Richard Glücks, German SS officer and major contributor to the concentration camp system and the Holocaust (died 1945) Richard Glücks was a high-ranking German SS functionary during the Nazi era. From November 1939 until the end of World War II, he commanded the Concentration Camps Inspectorate, later integrated into the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office as "Amt D". Reporting first to Theodor Eicke, then to SS chief Heinrich Himmler and finally to Oswald Pohl, he became Inspector of Concentration Camps. He retained this position despite Himmler, in whose presence Glücks would panic, having little confidence in him. Glücks was responsible for the forced labour of camp inmates and was the supervisor for the medical practices in the camps, ranging from Nazi human experimentation to the implementation of the "Final Solution", in particular the mass murder of inmates with Zyklon B gas. After Germany capitulated, Glücks committed suicide by swallowing a potassium cyanide capsule. Read more
22 Apr 1887: Harald Bohr, Danish mathematician and footballer (died 1951) Harald August Bohr was a Danish mathematician and footballer. After receiving his doctorate in 1910, Bohr became an eminent mathematician, founding the field of almost periodic functions. His brother was the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr. He was on the Denmark national team for the 1908 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal. Read more
22 Apr 1886: Izidor Cankar, Slovenian historian, author, and diplomat (died 1958) Izidor Cankar was a Slovenian author, art historian, diplomat, journalist, translator, and liberal conservative politician. He was one of the most important Slovenian art historians of the first part of the 20th century, and one of the most influential cultural figures in interwar Slovenia. Read more
22 Apr 1884: Otto Rank, Austrian-American psychologist and academic (died 1939) Otto Rank was an Austrian psychoanalyst, writer, and philosopher. Born in Vienna, he became one of Sigmund Freud's closest collaborators, served as secretary of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, and edited leading psychoanalytic journals while publishing studies of myth and creativity. His book The Trauma of Birth (1924) proposed that the anxiety of birth precedes the Oedipus complex, coined the term "pre-Oedipal," and triggered a decisive break with Freud's developmental theory. Rank established psychotherapy practices in Paris and New York, where he promoted relationship-based treatment that emphasized emotional presence in the analytic encounter. He influenced existential and humanistic therapy, social work, and action learning, and his ideas on creativity and the double continue to inform psychological and cultural criticism. Read more
22 Apr 1879: Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (died 1939) Bernhard Gregory was a Baltic German chess master. Read more
22 Apr 1876: Róbert Bárány, Austrian-Swedish otologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1936) Robert Bárány was an Austrian-born otologist. He received the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus. Read more
22 Apr 1876: Georg Lurich, Estonian wrestler and strongman (died 1920) Georg Lurich was an Estonian Greco-Roman wrestler and strongman of the early 20th century. Lurich was also the trainer of Estonian wrestlers and weightlifters Georg Hackenschmidt and Aleksander Aberg. Read more
22 Apr 1874: Wu Peifu, Chinese warlord, politician, and marshal of the Beiyang Army (died 1939) Wu Peifu (traditional Chinese: 吳佩孚; simplified Chinese: 吴佩孚; pinyin: Wú Pèifú; Wade–Giles: Wu2 P'ei4-fu2; 22 April 1874 – 4 December 1939) was a Chinese warlord and major figure in the Warlord Era in China from 1916 to 1927. Read more
22 Apr 1873: Ellen Glasgow, American author (died 1945) Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow was an American novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1942 for her novel In This Our Life. She published 20 novels, as well as short stories, to critical acclaim. A lifelong Virginian, Glasgow portrayed the changing world of the contemporary South in a realistic manner, differing from the idealistic escapism that characterized Southern literature after Reconstruction. Read more
22 Apr 1872: Princess Margaret of Prussia (died 1954) Margaret of Prussia was the youngest child of Frederick III, German Emperor, and Victoria, Princess Royal. She was also the younger sister of Emperor Wilhelm II and the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She married Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, the elected King of Finland, making her the would-be Queen of Finland had he not decided to renounce the throne on 14 December 1918. In 1926, they assumed the titles of Landgrave and Landgravine of Hesse. The couple had six sons and lost three of them in wartime, two during the First and one during the Second World War. Read more
22 Apr 1870: Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary and founder of Soviet Russia (died 1924) Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death. As the Bolsheviks' founder, Lenin led the October Revolution, which established the world's first communist state. His government won the Russian Civil War and created a one-party state under the Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called Leninism. Read more
22 Apr 1858: Ethel Smyth, English composer (died 1944) Dame Ethel Mary Smyth was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Read more
22 Apr 1858: Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, Belgian art collector and art historian (died 1901) Frédéric Henri Godefroid Émile Constantin (Fritz) ridder Mayer van den Bergh was a Belgian art collector and art historian. Read more
22 Apr 1854: Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943) Henri La Fontaine, was a Belgian international lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1913 because "he was the effective leader of the peace movement in Europe." Read more
22 Apr 1852: William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (died 1912) William IV was Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 17 November 1905 until his death in 1912. He succeeded his father, Adolphe. Like his father, William did not participate in politics, despite being vested with considerable power by the Constitution. Read more
22 Apr 1844: Lewis Powell, American soldier, attempted assassin of William H. Seward (died 1865) Lewis Thornton Powell was an American Confederate soldier who attempted to assassinate William Henry Seward as part of the Lincoln assassination plot. Wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, he later served in Mosby's Rangers before working with the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland. John Wilkes Booth recruited him into a plot to kidnap Lincoln and turn the president over to the Confederacy, but then decided to assassinate Lincoln, Seward, and Vice President Andrew Johnson instead, and assigned Powell the task to kill Seward. Read more
22 Apr 1832: Julius Sterling Morton, American journalist and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Agriculture (died 1902) Julius Sterling Morton was a Nebraska newspaper editor and politician who served as President Grover Cleveland's secretary of agriculture. He was a prominent Bourbon Democrat, taking a conservative position on political, economic, and social issues, and opposing agrarianism. Among his most notable achievements was the founding of Arbor Day in 1872. In 1897 he started a weekly magazine entitled The Conservative. Read more
22 Apr 1830: Emily Davies, British suffragist and educator, co-founder and an early Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge University (died 1921) Sarah Emily Davies was an English feminist who founded Girton College, Cambridge. She campaigned as a suffragist and for women's rights to university education. In her early life, she attended meetings of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science and befriended Barbara Bodichon and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. After moving to London with her mother in 1862, she wrote for and edited the English Woman's Journal and joined the Langham Place Group. She co-founded the London Schoolmistresses' Association and the Kensington Society, which pressured for universal suffrage, although she herself believed only unmarried women and widows should gain the vote. Read more
22 Apr 1816: Charles-Denis Bourbaki, French general (died 1897) Charles Denis Sauter Bourbaki was a French general. Read more
22 Apr 1812: Solomon Caesar Malan, Swiss-English orientalist (died 1894) Solomon Caesar Malan D.D., Vicar of Broadwindsor, Prebendary of Sarum, was a Geneva-born Anglican divine, a polyglot and orientalist. He published around 50 works related to biblical studies and translations. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 22 April in World History

22 Apr 2023: Len Goodman, English ballroom dancer and television personality (born 1944) Leonard Gordon Goodman was an English professional ballroom dancer, dance teacher, and dance competition adjudicator. He appeared as head judge on the British television programme Strictly Come Dancing – in which various celebrities compete for the glitterball trophy – from its beginning in 2004 until 2016, and on the American television programme Dancing with the Stars from 2005 until 2022. He also ran a ballroom dance school in Dartford, Kent. Read more
22 Apr 2022: Guy Lafleur, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1951) Guy Damien Lafleur, nicknamed "the Flower" and "Le Démon Blond", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 50 goals in six consecutive seasons as well as 50 goals and 100 points in six consecutive seasons. Between 1971 and 1991, Lafleur played right wing for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Quebec Nordiques in an NHL career spanning 17 seasons, and five Stanley Cup championships in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. Lafleur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history in 2017, and was named to the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2022. Read more
22 Apr 2021: Adrian Garrett, American professional baseball player (born 1943) Henry Adrian Garrett Jr., nicknamed "Pat" and "Smokey", was an American professional baseball player and coach. A utility man in Major League Baseball, he appeared in 163 total games during eight seasons between 1966 and 1976 for the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics and California Angels. He batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed at 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg). Read more
22 Apr 2020: Shirley Knight, American actress (born 1936) Shirley Knight Hopkins was an American actress who appeared in more than 50 feature films, television films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in her career, playing leading and character roles. She was a member of the Actors Studio. Read more
22 Apr 2017: Donna Leanne Williams, Australian writer, artist, and activist (born 1963) Donna Leanne Williams, also known by her married name Donna Leanne Samuel and as Polly Samuel, was an Australian writer, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, and sculptor. Read more
22 Apr 2015: Dick Balharry, Scottish environmentalist and photographer (born 1937) Richard Balharry was a Scottish conservationist, writer, and wildlife photographer. Read more
22 Apr 2014: Oswaldo Vigas, Venezuelan painter (born 1926) Oswaldo Vigas was a Venezuelan artist who worked as a painter, muralist, and sculptor. His body of work encompassed paintings, prints, drawings, ceramics, and tapestries. He integrated pre-Columbian with modernist and contemporary artistic currents. He lived and worked in France and Venezuela. Read more
22 Apr 2013: Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1941) Richard Pierce Havens was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk, soul, and rhythm and blues. He had a rhythmic guitar style. He was the opening act at Woodstock, sang many jingles for television commercials, and was also the voice of the GeoSafari toys. Read more
22 Apr 2013: Lalgudi Jayaraman, Indian violinist and composer (born 1930) Lalgudi Gopala Iyer Jayaraman was an Indian Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer. He is commonly grouped with M.S. Gopalakrishnan and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin trinity of Carnatic music. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2001. Read more
22 Apr 2013: Robert Suderburg, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1936)
Robert Charles Suderburg was an American composer, conductor, and pianist. Read more
22 Apr 2012: George Rathmann, American chemist, biologist, and businessman (born 1927) George Blatz Rathmann (1927–2012) was an American chemist, biologist, pioneer in biotechnology and corporate executive. In 1980 he co-founded and served as the first CEO of Amgen, and later founded Icos. Read more
22 Apr 2010: Richard Barrett, American lawyer and activist (born 1943) Richard Barrett was an American white nationalist, lawyer and self-proclaimed leader in the nationalist Skinheadz movement. Barrett was a speaker and editor of the All The Way monthly newsletter. He was general counsel of the white nationalist organisation, Nationalist Movement, which he founded in Mississippi. Read more
22 Apr 2009: Jack Cardiff, British cinematographer, director and photographer (born 1914) Jack Cardiff was a British cinematographer, film and television director, and photographer. His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor, to filmmaking more than half a century later. Read more
22 Apr 2007: Juanita Millender-McDonald, American educator and politician (born 1938) Juanita Millender-McDonald was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1996 until her death in 2007, representing California's 37th congressional district, which includes most of South Central Los Angeles and the city of Long Beach, California. She was a member of the Democratic Party. Read more
22 Apr 2006: Henriette Avram, American computer scientist and academic (born 1919) Henriette Davidson Avram was a computer programmer and systems analyst who developed the MARC format, the international data standard for bibliographic and holdings information in libraries. Avram's development of the MARC format in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at the Library of Congress had a revolutionizing effect on the practice of librarianship, making possible the automation of many library functions and the sharing of bibliographic information electronically between libraries using pre-existing cataloging standards. Read more
22 Apr 2006: Alida Valli, Italian actress (born 1921) Baroness Alida Maria Laura Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg, better known by her stage name Alida Valli, or simply Valli, was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, spanning from the 1930s to the early 2000s. She was one of the biggest stars of Italian film during the Fascist era, once being called "the most beautiful woman in the world" by Benito Mussolini, and was internationally successful post-World War II. Read more
22 Apr 2005: Erika Fuchs, German translator (born 1906) Erika Fuchs, née Petri, was a German translator. She is largely known in Germany for her major involvement in the localization process of American Disney comics, especially Carl Barks' stories about Duckburg and its inhabitants, as well the effects on the German language as a whole caused thereby. Read more
22 Apr 2005: Philip Morrison, American physicist and academic (born 1915) Philip Morrison was a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is known for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, and for his later work in quantum physics, nuclear physics, high energy astrophysics, and SETI. Read more
22 Apr 2005: Eduardo Paolozzi, Scottish sculptor and artist (born 1924) Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Read more
22 Apr 2003: Felice Bryant, American songwriter (born 1925) Felice Bryant and Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team. They are best known for songs such as "Rocky Top", "We Could", "Love Hurts", and numerous hits by the Everly Brothers, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bird Dog", "Bye Bye Love", and "Wake Up Little Susie". Read more
22 Apr 1999: Munir Ahmad Khan, Pakistani nuclear engineer (born 1926) Munir Ahmad Khan, NI, HI, FPAS, was a Pakistani nuclear engineer who is credited, among others, with being the "father of the atomic bomb program" of Pakistan for his leading role in developing the nation's nuclear weapons. Read more
22 Apr 1996: Erma Bombeck, American journalist and author (born 1927) Erma Louise Bombeck was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. Fifteen books of her humor have been published; most became bestsellers. Read more
22 Apr 1996: Jug McSpaden, American golfer and architect (born 1908) Harold Lee "Jug" McSpaden was an American professional golfer, and golf course architect. Read more
22 Apr 1995: Jane Kenyon, American poet and author (born 1947) Jane Kenyon was an American poet and translator. Her work is often characterized as simple, spare, and emotionally resonant. Kenyon was the second wife of poet, editor, and critic Donald Hall who made her the subject of many of his poems. Read more
22 Apr 1994: Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (born 1913) Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he represented California in both houses of the United States Congress before serving as the 36th vice president under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. His presidency saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal. Read more
22 Apr 1990: Albert Salmi, American actor (born 1928) Albert Salmi was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Best known for his work as a character actor, he appeared in over 150 film and television productions. Read more
22 Apr 1989: Emilio G. Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905) Emilio Gino Segrè was an Italian-American nuclear physicist and radiochemist who discovered the elements technetium and astatine, and the antiproton, a subatomic antiparticle, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1959, along with Owen Chamberlain. Read more
22 Apr 1988: Grigori Kuzmin, Russian-Estonian astronomer and academic (born 1917) Grigori Kuzmin was an Estonian astronomer, who worked mainly in the field of stellar dynamics. Read more
22 Apr 1988: Irene Rich, American actress (born 1891) Irene Frances Rich was an American actress who worked in both silent films, talkies, and radio. Read more
22 Apr 1987: Erika Nõva, Estonian architect (born 1905) Erika Nõva née Volberg was an Estonian architect, remembered mainly for her farmhouse designs. She was the first woman to graduate as an architect in Estonia. Read more
22 Apr 1986: Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian and author (born 1907) Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and interpreter of religious experience, he established paradigms in religious studies. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, has proved influential. One of his most instrumental contributions to religious studies was his theory of eternal return, which holds that myths and rituals do not simply commemorate hierophanies, but actually participate in them. Read more
22 Apr 1985: Paul Hugh Emmett, American chemist and academic (born 1900) Paul Hugh Emmett was an American chemist best known for his pioneering work in the field of catalysis and for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He spearheaded the research to separate isotopes of uranium and to develop a corrosive uranium gas. Emmett also made significant contributions to BET Theory which explains the relationship between surface area and gas adsorption. He served on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University for 23 years throughout his scientific career. Read more
22 Apr 1985: Jacques Ferron, Canadian physician and author (born 1921) Jacques Ferron was a Canadian physician and author. Read more
22 Apr 1984: Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (born 1902) Ansel Easton Adams was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advocating "pure" photography which favored sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph. He and Fred Archer developed a system of image-making called the Zone System, a method of achieving a desired final print through a technical understanding of how the tonal range of an image is the result of choices made in exposure, negative development, and printing. Read more
22 Apr 1983: Earl Hines, American pianist and bandleader (born 1903) Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz". Read more
22 Apr 1980: Jane Froman, American actress and singer (born 1907) Ellen Jane Froman was an American actress and singer. During her 30-year career, she performed on stage, radio, and television despite chronic health problems due to injuries sustained in a 1943 plane crash. Read more
22 Apr 1980: Fritz Strassmann, German chemist and physicist (born 1902) Friedrich Wilhelm Strassmann was a German chemist who, with Otto Hahn in December 1938, identified the element barium as a product of the bombardment of uranium with neutrons. Their observation was the key piece of evidence necessary to identify the previously unknown phenomenon of nuclear fission, as was subsequently recognized and published by Lise Meitner and Robert Frisch. Read more
22 Apr 1978: Will Geer, American actor (born 1902) Will Geer was an American actor, musician, and social activist who was active in labor organizing and communist movements in New York City and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In California, he befriended rising singer Woody Guthrie. They both lived in New York City for a time in the 1940s. He was blacklisted in the 1950s by Hollywood after refusing, in testimony before Congress, to name persons who had joined the Communist Party USA. Read more
22 Apr 1951: Horace Donisthorpe, English myrmecologist and coleopterist (born 1870) Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe was an eccentric British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus Lasius after him as Donisthorpea, and for his many claims of discovering new species of beetles and ants. Read more
22 Apr 1950: Charles Hamilton Houston, American lawyer and academic (born 1895) Charles Hamilton Houston Sr. was an American lawyer. He was the dean of Howard University Law School and NAACP first special counsel. A graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School, Houston played a significant role in dismantling Jim Crow laws, especially combating segregation in schools and racial housing covenants. He earned the title "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow". Read more
22 Apr 1945: Wilhelm Cauer, German mathematician and academic (born 1900) Wilhelm Cauer was a German mathematician and scientist. He is most noted for his work on the analysis and synthesis of electrical filters and his work marked the beginning of the field of network synthesis. Prior to his work, electronic filter design used techniques which accurately predicted filter behaviour only under unrealistic conditions. This required a certain amount of experience on the part of the designer to choose suitable sections to include in the design. Cauer placed the field on a firm mathematical footing, providing tools that could produce exact solutions to a given specification for the design of an electronic filter. Read more
22 Apr 1945: Käthe Kollwitz, German painter and sculptor (born 1867) Käthe Kollwitz was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including The Weavers and The Peasant War, depict the effects of poverty, hunger and war on the working class. Despite the realism of her early works, her art is now more closely associated with Expressionism. Kollwitz was the first woman not only to be elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts but also to receive honorary professor status. Read more
22 Apr 1933: Henry Royce, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (born 1863) Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet was an English engineer famous for his designs of car and aeroplane engines that had a reputation for reliability and longevity. He and his two business associates Charles Rolls (1877–1910) and Claude Johnson (1864–1926) together founded the Rolls-Royce Limited company in 1904. Read more
22 Apr 1932: Ferenc Oslay, Hungarian-Slovene historian and author (born 1883) Ferenc Oslay was a Hungarian-Slovene historian, writer, Trianon irredentist, and propagandist. Read more
22 Apr 1929: Henry Lerolle, French painter and art collector (born 1848) Henry Lerolle was a French painter, art collector and patron, born in Paris. He studied at Académie Suisse and in the studio of Louis Lamothe. Read more
22 Apr 1925: André Caplet, French composer and conductor (born 1878) André Léon Caplet was a French composer and conductor of classical music. He was a friend of Claude Debussy who orchestrated several of his compositions, as well as arrangements of several of them for different instruments. Read more
22 Apr 1908: Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1836) Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1908. He also was Secretary of State for War twice, in the cabinets of Gladstone and Rosebery. He was the first First Lord of the Treasury to be officially called the "Prime Minister", the term only coming into official usage five days after he took office. He remains the only person to date to hold the positions of Prime Minister and Father of the House at the same time, and the last Liberal leader to gain a UK parliamentary majority. Read more
22 Apr 1896: Thomas Meik, English engineer, founded Halcrow Group (born 1812)

Thomas Meik was a 19th-century Scottish engineer. Read more
22 Apr 1894: Kostas Krystallis, Greek author and poet (born 1868) Kostas Krystallis was an ethnic Aromanian, Greek author and poet, representative of 19th century Greek pastoral literature. He was born an Ottoman subject in Epirus, but escaped to Greece after being denounced to the authorities for writing a patriotic collection of poetry. Krystallis initially wrote his works in archaic language, but after 1891 he adopted the vernacular (Demotic) Greek language and became influenced by the New Athenian school. He was a pictorial writer, with a love of nature, while most of his work was based on traditional folk poetry. Read more
22 Apr 1893: Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian businessman and author (born 1825) Chaim Aronson was a Lithuanian Jewish inventor and memoirist. Read more
22 Apr 1892: Édouard Lalo, French violinist and composer (born 1823) Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo was a French composer, violist, violinist, and academic teacher. His most celebrated piece is the Symphonie Espagnole, a five-movement concerto for violin and orchestra that remains a popular work in the standard repertoire. Read more
22 Apr 1877: James P. Kirkwood, Scottish-American engineer (born 1807) James Pugh Kirkwood was a 19th-century American civil engineer, and general superintendent of the Erie Railroad in the year 1849–1850. He left the Erie to go to the southwest to construct railroads, and he made the first survey for the Pacific Railroad west from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. The towns of Kirkwood, Missouri and Kirkwood, New York are named in his honor. He served as president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) from 1867 to 1868. Read more
22 Apr 1871: Martín Carrera, Mexican general and president (1855) (born 1806) Antonio Martín Mariano Carrera Sabat was a Mexican general, senator, and interim president of the country for about a month in 1855. He was a moderate Liberal. Read more
22 Apr 1854: Nicolás Bravo, Mexican general and politician, 11th President of Mexico (born 1786) Nicolás Bravo Rueda was a Mexican soldier and politician who served as interim President of Mexico three times, in 1839, 1842, and 1846. Previously, he fought in the Mexican War of Independence, and served as Mexico's first Vice President under President Guadalupe Victoria from 1824 until 1827, when he attempted to overthrow Victoria. He was also the fourth vice president under President Mariano Paredes in 1846, and served in the Mexican–American War. Read more
22 Apr 1850: Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, Estonian philologist and physician (born 1798) Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (Fählmann) was an Estonian writer, medical doctor and philologist. He was a co-founder of the Learned Estonian Society and its chairman (1843-1850). Read more
22 Apr 1833: Richard Trevithick, English engineer and explorer (born 1771) Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive. The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Read more
22 Apr 1821: Gregory V of Constantinople, Greek patriarch and saint (born 1746) Gregory V of Constantinople, born Georgios Angelopoulos, was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1797 to 1798, from 1806 to 1808, and from 1818 to 1821. He was responsible for much restoration work to the Patriarchal Cathedral of St George, which had been badly damaged by fire in 1738. Read more
22 Apr 1806: Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (born 1763) Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of a Franco-Spanish fleet which was defeated by the British Royal Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Read more

Why is 22 April Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 22 April, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 22 April in World history?

On 22 April, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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