On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 103 of the year.

Monday, April 13th

Today is National Scrabble Day, Egyptian National Food Day, Orthodox Easter Monday and Plant Appreciation Day. Your star sign is Aries and your birthstone is Diamond.
Did you know: All Fools’ Day, also known as April Fools’ Day is a day for practical jokes and hoaxes, but only until 12 noon. The earliest recorded association between 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1392).
Today’s birthdays
1937 – Edward Fox (89), English actor (The Day of the Jackal, Lassie, A Bridge Too Far), born in Chelsea, London.
1940 – 2021 – Max Mosley, British racing driver, founder and co-owner of March Engineering who served as president of the FIA, the governing body for Formula One.
1943 – Philip Norman (83), English author, novelist best known for his biographies of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Buddy Holly and Elton John, born in London.
1946 – Al Green (80), American singer (“Let’s Stay Together”), songwriter and pastor, born in Forrest City, Arkansas, United States.
1950 – Ron Perlman (76), American actor (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy, Enemy at the Gates, Alien Resurrection), born in Washington Heights, New York, United States.
1951 – Peter Davison (75), English actor (All Creatures Great and Small, Death in Paradise, The Larkins, Doctor Who), born in Streatham, London.
1963 – Garry Kasparov (63), Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985-2000), born in Baku, Azerbaijan.
1975 – Lou Bega (50), German singer (“Mambo No. 5”, “Angelina”), born in Munich, Germany.
1978 – Carles Puyol (48), Spanish former professional footballer who played his entire career for Barcelona and the Spanish national team, born in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain.
1979 – Tony Lundon (47), Irish pop singer, former member of Liberty X (“Got to Have Your Love”), and lead dancer with Lord of the Dance, born in Galway, Ireland.
1980 – Kelli Giddish (46), American actress best known as NYPD Detective/Sergeant Amanda Rollins in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, born in Cumming, Georgia, United States.
Famous deaths
2004 – Caron Keating (b. 1962), British television presenter (Blue Peter, This Morning, We Can Work It Out) and daughter of Gloria Hunniford.
2006 – Muriel Spark (b. 1918), Scottish novelist (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Ballad of Peckham Rye) and short story writer.
2023 – Mary Quant (b. 1930), British fashion designer and icon. She became an instrumental figure in London’s Swinging Sixties culture.
The day today
1912 – Established by Royal Warrant, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was created as a unified air arm for both the Army and Navy to advance military aviation, replacing the Army’s Air Battalion. It comprised a Military Wing, Naval Wing, and a Central Flying School. The RFC focused on reconnaissance, merging into the Royal Air Force (RAF) on April 1, 1918.
1919 – British troops opened fire on 10,000 unarmed civilians at Amritsar in India, known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer entered the area with a force of 50-90 soldiers, sealed the only functional exit, and without warning, ordered his troops to open fire on the dense crowd. The incident catalyzed the Indian independence movement, leading to Mahatma Gandhi’s noncooperation movement (1920–22) and marking a decisive step toward the end of British rule. General Dyer was ultimately relieved of his command in 1920 after a commission condemned his actions. In 2013, David Cameron became the first sitting British Prime Minister to visit the site, calling it “deeply shameful,” but a formal apology has never been made.
1928 – The German-Irish crew of the Bremen, a Junkers W33 aircraft, completed the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight from Europe to North America. The crew departed from Baldonnel Aerodrome in Ireland on April 12 and landed on the remote Greenly Island in Canada after a 36.5-hour journey.

1936 – Luton Town footballer Joe Payne, aged 22, set a goal scoring record when he scored ten goals in one match against Bristol Rovers.

1939 – The Hindustani Lal Sena (Indian Red Army) was formed by Maganlal Bagdi and Pandit Shyam Narain Kashmiri in Nagpur, specifically to wage armed struggle against British colonial rule. Founded on the anniversary of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, this anti-colonial guerilla group focused on revolutionary action, including, at times, land confiscation.
1953 – The director of the CIA launched Project MKUltra, the US’ top secret mind control program. The highly controversial and illegal program used various methods, including the forced exposure to certain substances to manipulate captives into giving up vital information against their will. The program was only halted in 1973, and the majority of files relating to it were destroyed.
1979 – The world record for the longest table tennis doubles marathon was broken with a time of 101 hours. Lance, Phil & Mark Warren, and Bill Weir from Sacramento, California, began playing on April 9 and were only allowed a five-minute break for each hour they played.
1986 – The Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez saw Ayrton Senna win by a mere 0.014 seconds over Nigel Mansell, one of Formula One’s closest finishes. Mansell came desperately close to scoring Williams’ first win since team founder Frank Williams had been injured in a road accident.
1992 – Neil Kinnock resigned as Labour Party leader. He blamed the Conservative backed press for his party’s defeat at the general election.
1993 – Tom Stoppard’s play “Arcadia” premieres in London directed by Trevor Nunn, starring Rufus Sewell, Felicity Kendal and Bill Nighy.
1994 – Star Trek actor George Takei (Hikaru Sulu), had an asteroid named after him. The asteroid 7307 Takei was discovered on this day from Nachi-Katsuura Observatory in Japan.
2000 – “When Louis Met…” documentary by Louis Theroux premieres on BBC2 in the UK featuring Jimmy Saville.
2009 – Legendary music producer Phil Spector was convicted of second-degree murder for the 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson. Clarkson was found dead in the foyer of Spector’s Alhambra, California mansion with a gunshot wound to her mouth. Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison and died behind bars on January 16, 2021.
2019 – The world’s largest plane, The Stratolaunch, had its first flight from the Mojave Desert in California. The airplane was built to launch rockets into orbit while high in the atmosphere. Its wingspan was longer than the length a football field.
2020 – Andrea Bocelli performed a historic “Music for Hope” concert in Milan’s empty Duomo Cathedral, aimed at providing comfort during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accompanied only by organist Emanuele Vianelli, the livestreamed performance included “Ave Maria” and “Amazing Grace,” reaching millions worldwide.
2021 – US, South Africa, and EU authorities paused the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine following reports of six U.S. cases of a rare, severe blood clot, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), in women aged 18–48.

2021 – Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria apologised for voicing Apu for 30 years. Azaria, a white man, felt he needed to apologise to “every single Indian person” for the harm he did in voicing the iconic Indian shopkeeper.

2024 – Iran launched a drone and missile strike on Israel following an Israeli attack on its Damascus embassy.
2025 – According to Ukrainian authorities, at least 34 people have been killed and 117 injured, including 15 children, after a Russian attack on the centre of Sumy on Palm Sunday.
Today in music
1965 – The Beatles record the song ‘Help!’ during an evening recording session at Abbey Road in London.
1967 – Nancy and Frank Sinatra were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Somethin’ Stupid’, making them the only father and daughter to have a UK No.1 single as a team. Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne then got to number 1 in 2003 with their song ‘Changes’.
1971 – The Rolling Stones released ‘Brown Sugar’ taken from their latest album Sticky Fingers, the first record on their own label, Rolling Stones Records, which introduced the infamous licking- tongue and lips logo.
1973 – David Bowie released his sixth studio album Aladdin Sane, the name of the album is a pun on ‘A Lad Insane”‘ Two hit singles included on the album preceded its release, ‘The Jean Genie’ and ‘Drive-In Saturday’.
2002 – Thieves broke in to a house in Bexhill, Sussex and stole a hi-fi system and several CD’s. They left albums by Madonna, Robbie Williams and Oasis but took the owners entire Showaddywaddy collection.
2003 – Madonna struck back at web sites who were offering illegal downloads of her new album, ‘American Life’ by flooding file-sharing networks with decoy files. When the files were opened they were greeted by the voice of Madonna asking, ‘What the f**k do you think you’re doing?’ The latest Madonna album has been kept under tight wraps to avoid piracy, with promotional copies being held back from journalists until just before the official release.
2007 – Julian Lennon sold a ‘significant’ stake of his share in the songs his father John wrote for The Beatles to US music publishing company Primary Wave. The firm would now receive payments when any Lennon compositions were sold on CD, performed live or played on the radio. The company, who were about to market Julian Lennon’s new music project, declined to reveal how much the deal was worth.
2009 – Procol Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ was the most played song in public places in the past 75 years, according to a chart compiled for BBC Radio 2. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was at number two followed by ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ by the Everly Brothers. Wet Wet Wet’s 1994 hit, ‘Love Is All Around’, was at number four followed by Bryan Adams’s 1991 hit ‘(Everything I Do), I Do It For You.’
2010 – Brian May launched a major new campaign to try to prevent the return of legalised blood sports to the British Countryside. The ‘SAVE-ME’ campaign – named after May’s song, called on the British public to consider how their vote will affect the welfare of animals; and in particular fox-hunting, stag hunting and hare-coursing. The first ‘SAVE-ME campaign poster was unveiled by Brian at a prime advertising site on London’s West Cromwell Road.
2013 – Sir Paul McCartney topped the Sunday Times Rich List of musicians with the £680m fortune he shares with his wife Nancy Shevell. Sir Paul, whose American heiress wife is said to be worth £150m, has topped each list since 1989 when he was worth an estimated £80m. Andrew Lloyd Webber was second, with £620m, while U2 were third, with £520m. Adele topped the list for young music millionaires in Britain and Ireland with an estimated fortune of £30m.
2019 – English keyboardist and guitarist Paul Raymond died age 73. He joined Plastic Penny in the early 60s as their keyboardist, vocalist, and replaced Christine McVie in British blues band Chicken Shack.
Today in history
1570 – The birth of Guy Fawkes at High Petergate in York. His birthplace is now the Guy Fawkes Inn, a medieval inn that stands in the shadow of York Minster. He was also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries. Guy Fawkes belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot at the Houses of Parliament in 1605.
1668 – John Dryden was appointed as England’s first Poet Laureate by King Charles II. Dryden received £300 a year and a cask of Canary wine for being the kingdom’s official poet.
1732 – The birth of Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guildford. As Lord North, he levied the tax on tea which angered the American colonists and ultimately provoked the so called ‘Boston Tea Party’ when demonstrators boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into the Boston Harbour.
1771 – Richard Trevithick, Cornish engineer was born. The son of a mining captain, he performed poorly in school, but went on to be an early pioneer in steam-powered rail. Trevithick built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive, called the ‘Coalbrookdale Locomotive’ in 1802. He also built road locomotives including ‘the Puffing Devil’. It was one of the world’s first steam powered road vehicles to carry passengers.
1829 – The British Parliament passed the Catholic Emancipation Act, lifting restrictions imposed on Catholics at the time of Henry VIII.
1868 – The British Expedition to Abyssinia concluded with the decisive Battle of Magdala. British and Indian forces under Sir Robert Napier captured the fortress, leading Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros II to commit suicide with a pistol gifted by Queen Victoria to avoid capture.
1892 – The birth of Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, considered by many to be the inventor of radar. The system provided the vital advance information that helped the Royal Air Force win the Battle of Britain.
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