On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 109 of the year.

Sunday, April 19th

Today is National Garlic Day, Newport Wales Marathon, National Primrose Day, National Amaretto Day, and National Poker 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
1933 – 2025 – Harold “Dickie” Bird, English former cricketer and retired international cricket umpire.
1935 – 2002 – Dudley Moore, English actor (Arthur, Blame it on the Bellboy, The Hound of the Baskervilles), and a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s.
1941 – 2020 – Michel Roux, French chef and restaurateur, he opened Le Gavroche in Mayfair, London, which subsequently became the first three Michelin starred restaurant in Britain.
1942 – Alan Price (84), English musician and keyboardist with the Animals (“House of the Rising Sun”, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”), born in Washington, Tyne and Wear.
1943 – Eve Graham (83), Scottish singer and former member of the New Seekers (“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”), born in Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
1946 – Tim Curry (80), English actor (IT, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Home Alone, Annie), born in Warrington, Cheshire.
1953 – Ruby Wax (73), American actress and comedian (Girls on Top), born in Evanston, Illinois, United States.
1956 – Sue Barker (70), English former television presenter (Grandstand, A Question of Sport) and professional tennis player (15 WTA Tour singles titles), born in Paignton, Devon.
1970 – Kelly Holmes (56), English retired middle distance athlete (won gold medals for 800m and 1500m at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens), born in Pembury, Kent.
1981 – Hayden Christensen (45), Canadian actor who played Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the clones, born in Vancouver, Canada.
1987 – Joe Hart (39), English football pundit and former goalkeeper (Celtic, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, England), born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
1987 – Maria Sharapova (39), Russian former tennis player and former world No. 1, born in Nyagan, Russia.
Famous deaths
1882 – Charles Darwin (b. 1809), English biologist and theorist widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology.
1992 – Frankie Howerd (b. 1917), English actor and screenwriter (The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery, Carry On Up the Jungle, Up Pompeii).
2004 – Norris McWhirter (b. 1925), English writer, television presenter (Record Breakers) and co-founder (along with his brother Ross McWhirter) of the Guinness Book of Records.
2021 – Jim Steinman (b. 1947), American composer, lyricist and record producer (“Total Eclipse of the Heart”, “No Matter What”).
The day today
1927 – American actress Mae West was sentenced to 10 days in jail, convicted of obscenity and “corrupting the morals of youth” with her portrayal of a prostitute in the Broadway play Sex, which she also wrote; the publicity made her nationally known.
1928 – The 125th and final section of the Oxford English Dictionary was published. This marked the completion of the first edition of the dictionary, published as “A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles”. The final fascicle covered words from “Wise” to the end of “W”.
1943 – Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist deliberately doses himself with LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects on April 16, an event commonly known and celebrated as Bicycle Day.
1943 – Jews refuse to surrender the Warsaw Ghetto to SS officer Jürgen Stroop, who then orders its destruction.
1951 – The first Miss World contest (originally the “Festival Bikini Contest”) was won by 21-year-old Kiki Håkansson from Sweden at the Lyceum Ballroom in London. Devised by Eric Morley as part of the Festival of Britain, she was famously the only winner to be crowned while wearing a bikini.
1958 – Sir Bobby Charlton made his England debut against Scotland at Hampden Park, just over two months after surviving the Munich air disaster. He scored a volleyed goal in that match, which England won 4–0, setting a record of 49 goals in 106 appearances for his country.
1971 – Charles Manson was sentenced to death in the gas chamber following his conviction in 1971 for his conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders. In 1972, the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in the state and as a result of the ruling, Manson’s sentence, along with those of his followers, was automatically commuted to life imprisonment. Sharon Tate was 8½ months pregnant when she was murdered on August 9, 1969.
1972 – The British army is largely cleared of blame for Bloody Sunday which ended in the deaths of 14 civilians in Northern Ireland. The only soldier to face murder charges over Bloody Sunday, known as Soldier F, was found not guilty of two murders and five attempted murders in a trial that concluded on October 23, 2025.
1989 – The Central Park Five case in New York involving five Black and Latino teenagers are wrongfully convicted of the 1989 rape of jogger Trisha Meili in NYC. Despite no physical evidence matching them, they served 6–13 years in prison following coerced confessions. Their convictions were overturned in 2002 after serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed and DNA evidence linked him to the crime.
1995 – The first television advert for football pools was screened in a £1.5m Littlewood’s campaign. The ban on such commercials was lifted after the company protested to the government that the National Lottery was hitting their profits.
1998 – The Full Monty won Best Film at the 51st British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) beating heavily nominated US blockbusters like Titanic. The British comedy-drama, about unemployed Sheffield steelworkers turning to stripping, swept the night with four awards, including Best Actor for Robert Carlyle and Best Supporting Actor for Tom Wilkinson.
1999 – The Space Needle was officially designated a historic landmark by the Seattle City Council, 37 years after opening for the 1962 World’s Fair. Constructed in 1961, the 605-foot tower in Seattle, Washington, was lauded for its architectural and historical significance, becoming the city’s youngest landmark at that time.
2011 – NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat, the first game in the franchise reboot, was released for PS3 and Xbox 360. Mortal Kombat wasn’t just a breath of fresh air for the series; it completely raised the bar! Until 2009, the franchise was held by Midway Games Chicago, the studio that came up with Mortal Kombat. Then, Midway Games went bankrupt, and Warner Bros. bought them out.
2014 – A family had to flee their people carrier after suffering the misfortune of seeing it catch fire in the middle of the lion enclosure at Longleat Safari Park.
2018 – King Mswati III officially renamed the Kingdom of Swaziland to the Kingdom of Eswatini during the country’s 50th independence anniversary and his 50th birthday. Eswatini, which translates to “land of the Swazis” in the local SiSwati language, was chosen to signify a return to pre-colonial roots and eliminate confusion with Switzerland.
2020 – UK COVID-19 death toll reaches 16,060 (hospitals only), as “The Sunday Times” criticizes Boris Johnson’s government’s response, saying they “sleepwalked into disaster”.
2021 – NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter achieved the first powered, controlled flight on another world, hovering 10 feet over the Martian surface for 39 seconds. This historic 4-pound drone demonstrated that flight is possible in Mars’ ultra-thin atmosphere, paving the way for future aerial exploration.
Today in music
1969 – Smile (later to be known as Queen) appeared at the Revolution Club in London, England.
1980 – 32 year old English singer Brian Johnson joined Australian group AC/DC, replacing Bon Scott who had died after a drinks binge in February 1980. On the same day, Blondie went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Call Me’, featured in the Richard Gere movie ‘American Gigolo’, the track was also a No.1 in the UK.
1980 – Blondie went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Call Me’, featured in the Richard Gere movie ‘American Gigolo’, the track was also a No.1 in the US.
1985 – Bryan Adams was on the UK album chart with Reckelss. His fourth studio album was the first Canadian album to sell more than one million units within Canada. Six singles were released from the album: ‘Run to You,’ ‘Somebody,’ ‘Heaven,’ ‘Summer of ’69,’ ‘One Night Love Affair,’ and ‘It’s Only Love.’
1986 – George Michael was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘A Different Corner’, the singers second solo No.1. Michael became the first solo act in the history of the UK chart to reach No.1 with his first two releases. The song was also credited with being the second No.1 (after ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ by Stevie Wonder), which was written, sung, played, arranged and produced by the same person.
1986 – Prince started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Kiss.’ Prince also had the No.2 song ‘Manic Monday’, by The Bangles, which he wrote under the pseudonym ‘Christopher.’
1998 – Robbie Williams started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with his debut solo album Life Thru A Lens. The album spent a total of 218 weeks on the UK chart, with sales of 2.4 million copies.
2003 – The oldest working musician in Britain, Conrad Leonard died aged 104. Composer and pianist Leonard had worked with Cole Porter, Petula Clark and at the BBC during his career. Until the age of 103 years, he played the piano every Thursday at lunchtime in the Plantation Cafe at Squire’s Garden Centre in Twickenham.
2020 – Michael Ball and Captain Tom Moore went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. The charity single made Moore (six days short of his one hundredth birthday) the oldest person to achieve a No.1 (he was at the top of the charts on his 100th birthday), beating the previous record-holder Tom Jones.
2021 – Producer and songwriter Jim Steinman, most famous for his work on Meat Loaf’s best-selling Bat Out Of Hell album, died at the age of 73. His most successful chart singles include Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, Air Supply’s ‘Making Love Out of Nothing at All’, Meat Loaf’s ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’, the Sisters of Mercy’s ‘This Corrosion’.
Today in history
1587 – The English naval commander Sir Francis Drake sailed a small number of ships into Cadiz Harbour and sank most of the Spanish fleet. The incident became known as ‘singeing the King of Spain’s beard’.
1770 – Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1775 – The Battle of Lexington and Concord began, which kicked off the American Revolutionary War between 1775 and 1783. Politically disastrous for the British, it persuaded many Americans to take up arms and support the cause of independence.
1764 – The English Parliament bans the American colonies from printing paper money.
1881 – The death, in London, of Benjamin Disraeli, first Earl of Beaconsfield and British Prime Minister. He became the first Conservative Prime Minister in 1868, but was defeated at the next election. He was Prime Minister again in 1874 with a substantial majority.
1882 – Charles Darwin publishes his final book, “The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms.”
1883 – British banker Thomas Agnew whilst at a meeting in Liverpool to establish a home for dogs, suggested it should perhaps be turned into a home for children as he had seen the work of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to children. On the evening of this day, the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed. Later, it would become the National Society (NSPCC).
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