Today is Tuesday, April 18, 2017 the 107th day of the year with 257 days remaining. Funny man Conan O'Brien turns 54 today!
- Sunrise: 6:30am
- Sunset: 7:49pm
...giving us 13 hours and 19 minutes of daylight. 65% of the waning moon will be visible, setting at 11:53am.
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 4:36am/7:19pm
- Low: 11:33am
Special international celebrations today…
- Health Day - Kiribati
- Independence Day - Zimbabwe
- Paul Revere Day - US
- Flag Day - Denmark
It’s also…
- Adult Autism Day
- Income Tax Pay Day
- International Amateur Radio Day
- National Columnists' Day
- National Lineman Appreication Day
- Pet Owners Independence Day
- World Amateur Radio Day
On this day in…
1521 - Martin Luther confronted the emperor Charles V in the Diet of Worms and refused to retract his views that led to his excommunication.
1676 - Sudbury, Massachusetts, was attacked by Indians.
1775 - American revolutionaries Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott rode through the towns of Massachusetts giving the warning that the Regulars were coming out. Later, the phrase "the British are coming" was attributed to Revere even though it is unlikely he used that wording.
1791 - National Guardsmen prevented Louis XVI and his family from leaving Paris.
1818 - A regiment of Indians and blacks were defeated at the Battle of Suwann, in Florida, ending the first Seminole War.
1834 - William Lamb became prime minister of England.
1838 - The Wilkes' expedition to the South Pole set sail.
1846 - The telegraph ticker was patented by R.E. House
1847 - U.S. troops defeated almost 17,000 Mexican soldiers commanded by Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo. (Mexican-American War)
1853 - The first train in Asia began running from Bombay to Tanna.
1861 - Colonel Robert E. Lee turned down an offer to command the Union armies during the U.S. Civil War.
1877 - Charles Cros wrote a paper that described the process of recording and reproducing sound. In France, Cros is regarded as the inventor of the phonograph. In the U.S., Thomas Edison gets the credit.
1895 - New York State passed an act that established free public baths.
1906 - San Francisco, CA, was hit with an earthquake. The original death toll was cited at about 700. Later information indicated that the death toll may have been 3 to 4 times the original estimate.
1910 - Walter R. Brookins made the first airplane flight at night.
1923 - Yankee Stadium opened in the Bronx, NY. The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1. John Phillip Sousa's band played the National Anthem.
1924 - Simon and Schuster, Inc. published the first "Crossword Puzzle Book."
1934 - The first Laundromat opened in Fort Worth,Texas/
1937 - Leon Trotsky called for the overthrow of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
1938 - Superman made his debut when he appeared in the first issue of Action Comics. (Cover date June 1938)
1938 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt threw out the first ball preceding the season opener between the Washington Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics.
1942 - James H. Doolittle and his squadron, from the USS Hornet, raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
1942 - The Vichy government capitulated to Adolf Hitler and invited Pierre Laval to form a new government in France.
1943 - Traveling in a bomber, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, was shot down by American P-38 fighters.
1945 - American war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa. He was 44 years old.
1946 - The League of Nations was dissolved.
1949 - The Republic of Ireland was established.
1950 - The first transatlantic jet passenger trip was completed.
1954 - Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser seized power in Egypt.
1956 - Actress Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco were married. The religious ceremony took place April 19.
1960 - The Mutual Broadcasting System was sold to the 3M Company of Minnesota for $1.25 million.
1978 - The U.S. Senate approved the transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama on December 31, 1999.
1979 - The TV show "Real People" premiered.
1980 - Rhodesia became in independent nation of Zimbabwe.
1983 - TheU.S. Embassy in Beirut was blown up by a suicide car-bomber. 63 people were killed including 17 Americans.
1984 - Daredevils Mike MacCarthy and Amanda Tucker made a sky dive from the Eiffel Tower. The jump ended safely.
1985 - Ted Turner filed for a hostile takeover of CBS.
1985 - Tulane University abolished its 72-year-old basketball program. The reason was charges of fixed games, drug abuse, and payments to players.
1989 - Thousands of Chinese students demanding democracy tried to storm Communist Party headquarters in Beijing.
2000 - The Nasdaq had the biggest one-day point gain in its history.
2000 - Joan Lunden and Jeff Konigsberg were married.
2002 - Actor Robert Blake and his bodyguard were arrested in connection with the shooting death of Blake's wife about a year before.
2002 - The Amtrak Auto Train derailed in a remote area of north Florida. Four people were killed and 133 were injured.
2002 - The city legislature of Berlin decided to make Marlene Dietrich an honorary citizen. Dietrich had gone to theU.S. in 1930. She refused to return to Germany after Adolf Hitler came to power.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- George Henry Lewes 1817 - English philosopher, literary and theater critic
- Franz von Suppe 1819 - Composer
- Clarence Darrow 1857 - Attorney, famous for his part in the Scopes 'monkey trial'
- Sam (Samuel Earl) Crawford 1880 - Baseball player
- Leopold Stokowski 1882 - Conductor
- Sylvia Fisher 1910 - Opera singer
- Tony Mottola 1918 - Guitarist, arranger for Perry Como's TV variety show
- Hal Galper 1938 - Jazz pianist, composer
- Barbara Hale 1922 - Actress ("Perry Mason", "Airport")
- Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown 1924
- Clive Revill 1930 - Actor ("The Sea Wolf", "The Empire Strikes Back")
- James Drury (James Child Drury, Jr.) 1934 - Actor ("The Virginian")
- Don Ohl 1936 - Baseketball player
- Robert Hooks 1937 - Actor ("Star Trek III: The Search for Spock", "Passenger 57")
- Hal Galper 1938 - Jazz pianist (Hal Galper Quintet), author ("The Touring Musician")
- Richie Pettibone 1938 - Football player
- Mike Vickers 1941 - Musician (Manfred Mann)
- Walt Sweeney 1941 - Football player
- Steve Blass 1942 - Baseball player
- Pete Gogolak 1942 - Football player
- Jochen Rindt 1942 - Auto racer
- Hayley Mills 1946 - Actress ("The Parent Trap"), singer
- Alexander "Skip" Spence 1946 - Musician (Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane)
- James Woods 1947 - Actor ("The Onion Field", "Casino")
- Dorothy Lyman 1947 - Actress ("All My Children")
- Cindy Pickett 1947 - Actress ("Guiding Light")
- Walt Richmond 1947 - Musician (Tractors)
- Nate Archibald 1948 - Basketball player
- Catherine Malfitano 1948 - Opera singer
- Geoff Bodine 1949 - Auto racer
- Rick Moranis 1954 - Actor ("Parenthood", "Ghostbuster" series, "Spaceballs")
- John James 1956 - Actor ("Search for Tomorrow", "As the World Turns")
- Eric Roberts 1956 - Actor ("Doctor Who", "The Coca-Cola Kid"), brother of actress Julia Roberts
- Melody Thomas Scott 1956 - Actess ("Young and the Restless")
- Les Pattinson 1958 - Musician (Echo and the Bunnymen)
- Jane Leeves 1961 - Actress, singer
- Wilbur Marshall 1962 - Football player
- Jane Leeves 1963 - Actress (TV: "Frazier")
- Conan O'Brien 1963 - Television personality ("Late Night with Conan O'Brien")
- Mike Mangini 1963 - Drummer (Dream Theater)
- Eric McCormack 1963 - Actor, musician, writer
- Maria Bello 1967 - Actress ("Payback," "Coyote Ugly")
- Greg Eklund 1970 - Musician (Everclear)
- Trina 1974 - Singer (Trina and Tamara)
- Mark Thomas Tremonti 1974 - Guitarist (Creed)
- Sean Maguire 1976 - Actor
- Melissa Joan Hart 1976 - Actress ("Sabrina the Teenage Witch")
- Alia Shawkat 1989 - Actress ("Arrested Development")
- Brittany Leanna "Britt" Robertson 1990 - Actress
