Thomas Bodley knighted, 1604
The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is one of the most famous in the world. It was named after an ex-diplomat and fellow of Merton College, Thomas Bodley. Bodley used…
Bay of Pigs, 1961
On the morning of 17th April, 1961, a force of Cuban counter-revolutionary exiles, known as Brigade 2506, landed at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro’s…
Emperor Haile Selassie visited Jamaica, 1966
Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, had been the central figure in the Rastafarian faith since the foundation of the movement in the early 1930s. The indigent population in Jamaica…
Pasteurization developed, 1862
Louis Pasteur was born on 27th December 1822 in Dole, eastern France. He attended the Ecole Normale Supérieur in Paris between 1843 and 1846 when he received a doctorate in…
Shakespeare died, 1616
On 23rd April 1616 William Shakespeare died at the age of 52 at his home in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, Shakespeare is also…
U.S. Congress authorised two-cent coin, 1864
On 22nd April 1864 the U.S. Congress passed an Act to authorise the issuance of a two-cent coin. This Act also gave the the U.S. Treasury discretionary powers to decide…
Guillotine used for first time, 1792
On 25th April 1792, a highwayman called Nicolas-Jacques Pelletier received the dubious honour of being the first person executed using the guillotine. The device was named after Joseph-Ignace Guillotin who…
West German embassy siege in Stockholm, 1975
On the 24th April 1975, members of a group of armed revolutionary group from Germany known as the Red Army Faction entered the West German embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. They…
Duel of the Mignons, 1578
During the French Wars of Religion, two factions developed at court. One loyal to Henry III, King of France (pictured on the left) and the other supporters of Henry, Duke…
Tanganyika and Zanzibar unite, 1964
On 26th April, 1964, the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar was born. In October of that year the country was renamed the United Republic of Tanzania (a portmanteau of…