April 5





April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap
years). There are 270 days remaining.

Events

   * 1242 - During a battle on the ice of Chudskoye Lake, Russian forces
     rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
   * 1614 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist
     John Rolfe.
   * 1621 - The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth on a return trip to Great
     Britain.
   * 1654 - Signing of the Treaty of Westminster, ending the First
     Anglo-Dutch War.
   * 1792 - United States President George Washington vetos a bill designed
     to apportion representatives among U.S. states. This is the first time
     the presidential veto has been used in the United States.
   * 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Yorktown (1862) - The battle
     begins when Union forces under General George McClellan close in on the
     Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia.
   * 1930 - In an act of civil disobedience, Mohandas Gandhi breaks British
     law after marching to the sea and making salt.
   * 1951 - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for performing
     espionage for the Soviet Union.
   * 1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United
     Kingdom amid indications of failing heath.
   * 1957 - In India, Communists won the first elections in united Kerala
     and EMS Namboodiripad sworn in as the first chief minister.
   * 1998 - In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu
     and costing cost about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the
     largest suspension bridge in the world.
   * 1999 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988
     are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
   * 1999 - In Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to
     kidnapping and felony murder in order to avoid a possible death penalty
     conviction for the apparent hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard.

Births

   * 1588 - Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (+ 1679)
   * 1827 - Joseph Lister surgeon (+ 1912)
   * 1856 - Booker T. Washington
   * 1875 - Mistinguett, French vaudeville performer (+ 1956)
   * 1900 - Spencer Tracy, actor (+ 1967)
   * 1908 - Bette Davis, actress (+ 1989)
   * 1908 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (+ 1989)
   * 1916 - Gregory Peck, actor (+ 2003)
   * 1922 - Gale Storm, singer/actress
   * 1937 - Colin Powell, US Secretary of State
   * 1942 - Peter Greenaway, painter

Deaths

   * 1967 - Hermann Joseph Muller geneticist (+ 1890)
   * 1970 - Alfred Henry Sturtevant geneticist (+ 1891)
   * 1975 - Chiang Kai-shek
   * 1976 - Howard Hughes, aviation pioneer, film director, eccentric
   * 1982 - Abe Fortas
   * 1994 - Kurt Cobain, rock musician
   * 2002 - Layne Staley, rock musician