On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 112 of the year.

Wednesday, April 22nd

Today is Earth Day (International Mother Earth Day), National Jelly Bean Day, April Showers Day and Stephen Lawrence Day. Your star sign is Taurus 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 – Jack Nicholson (89), American retired actor (Batman, The Shining, A Few Good Men), born in Neptune City, New Jersey, United States.
1950 – Peter Frampton (76), English musician, singer and songwriter (“Show Me the Way”), born in Bromley, Greater London.
1959 – Ryan Stiles (67), American comedian (Whose Line Is It Anyway?, The Drew Carey Show) and actor, born in Seattle, Washington, United States.
1963 – 2021 – Sean Lock, English comedian and team captain on Channel 4’s comedy panel show, 8 Out of 10 Cats and on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown until his death.
1969 – Dion Dublin (57), English former professional footballer (Manchester United, Coventry City), television presenter (Homes Under the Hammer) and pundit, born in Leicester.
1969 – Craig Logan (57), Scottish musician and songwriter who began his career with Bros (“I Owe You Nothing”), born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland.
1982 – Ricardo Kaká (44), Brazilian former professional football player (Real Madrid, Orlando City, Brazil national team), born in Gama, Federal District, Brazil.
1984 – Amelle Berrabah (42), English singer and former member of the Sugababes (“About You Now”) replacing founding member Mutya Buena in 2005, born in Aldershot, Hampshire.
1984 – Michelle Ryan (42), English actress, best known for playing the role of Zoe Slater in Eastenders, born in Enfield, North London.
1986 – Amber Heard (40), American actress (London Fields, Aquaman, Justice League, Drive Angry), born in Austin, Texas, United States.
1990 – Eve Muirhead (36), Scottish former curler and skip of the British Olympic Curling team (Olympic bronze 2014, Olympic champions 2022), born in Perth, Scotland.
Famous deaths
1933 – Henry Royce (b. 1863), English engineer famous for his designs of car and aeroplane engines and co-founder of Rolls Royce along with Claude Johnson in 1904.

1994 – Richard Nixon (b. 1913), 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974.

2023 – Len Goodman (b. 1944), English ballroom dancer and television personality (Strictly Come Dancing).

The day today
1915 – The German army used chlorine gas for the first time. As expected by German chemists, the gas was highly effective in clearing out enemy trenches, and was used many times throughout the rest of the war.
1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
1943 – The Bank of England officially discontinued printing and circulating the £1,000 note. These notes were primarily used for internal bank accounting rather than general circulation, and they were officially withdrawn to combat wartime forgery. While £1,000 notes were discontinued, the Bank of England continued to issue £500 notes for a period before they too were phased out. The highest denomination banknote currently issued by the Bank of England is the £50 note.
1945 – After learning that Soviet forces had taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admitted defeat in his underground bunker and stated that suicide was his only option. He remained in the underground Berlin shelter before committing suicide on April 30, 1945, to avoid capture.
1964 – British businessman and MI6 courier Greville Wynne was exchanged for Soviet intelligence officer Konon Molody (known as Gordon Lonsdale) in a high-profile Cold War spy swap. Wynne, arrested in 1962, was serving time in Moscow for espionage, while Lonsdale was released from a 25-year UK sentence for managing the Portland Spy Ring.
1969 – English yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston sailed into Falmouth Harbour, completing the first non-stop solo voyage around the world. He was at sea for 312 days. His yacht was named Suhaili which means “good wind”. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.
1972 – British ocean rower and adventurer Sylvia Cook in tandem with John Fairfax, became the first people to row across the Pacific Ocean. They completed an 8,000-mile, 363-day journey from San Francisco to Australia in the Britannia II, overcoming sharks, a cyclone, and a broken rudder.
1972 – Francis Rowntree, an 11-year-old boy from Belfast, was the first person in Northern Ireland to die after being struck by a rubber bullet fired by the British Army. A soldier, identified in legal proceedings as Soldier B, fired a rubber bullet from a few yards away. The bullet struck Francis directly in the head, causing extensive skull fractures and brain lacerations. The Rowntree family successfully pursued a civil action against the Ministry of Defence, which concluded with a judgment against the MoD in 2021.
1993 – The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) was dedicated in Washington, D.C., as a national monument to the six million Jews and millions of others killed by Nazi Germany. Located near the National Mall, the museum serves as a living, federal educational institution dedicated to commemorating victims, educating the public, and confronting antisemitism.
1996 – Diana, Princess of Wales personally attended a five-hour heart transplant operation on a young boy at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex.
2000 – The Big Number Change, initiated by OFTEL, took place in the UK to address phone number shortages. It introduced new 02 area codes for five cities (London, Cardiff, Coventry, Portsmouth, Southampton) and Northern Ireland, and it shifted mobile, premium, and non-geographic numbers to 07, 08, and 09 prefixes.
2012 – Claire Squires, 30, from Leicestershire, collapsed on the final stretch of the London marathon. She was given medical attention by paramedics but died at the scene. The last competitor to die was a 22-year-old fitness instructor in 2007.
2013 – Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed that the extensive search for five-year-old April Jones from Machynlleth, Powys, had officially ended after almost seven months. April went missing on October 1, 2012. Mark Bridger was arrested shortly after and subsequently charged with her abduction, murder, and perverting the course of justice by disposing of her body. Although April’s body was never found, blood and bone fragments consistent with her DNA were discovered at Bridger’s home.
2014 – David Moyes was sacked as manager of Manchester United after only 10 months in charge and replaced by Ryan Giggs temporarily until the end of the season following a 2–0 loss at Everton 2 days prior. At the time of his sacking, United were seventh in the Premier League table, 13 points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with four matches remaining, ensuring United would fail to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1995 and finish outside of the top three for the first time in Premier League history.
2017 – The Romanian Tennis captain, Ilie Nastase was thrown out of the Fed Cup playoff against Britain in Constanta after abusing players and the umpire. The previous day, he apparently made racially offensive comments about Serena Williams’ pregnancy after he was overheard asking if the child would be “chocolate with milk”.

2018 – Liverpool’s Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah was named the 2017–18 PFA Players’ Player of the Year after a record-breaking debut season, beating Kevin De Bruyne and Harry Kane. He scored 32 Premier League goals, setting a new record for a 38-game season, and concluded the season with 44 total goals.

2020 – Sudan’s transitional government officially criminalised female genital mutilation (FGM/C) by amending its criminal law, making the practice punishable by three years in prison, a fine, and potential closure of the medical facility where the procedure took place.

2024 – The UK Parliament passed the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act enabling the government to deport asylum seekers who arrive via unauthorised routes, such as small boats, to Rwanda for processing and settlement.

Today in music
1965 – The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Ticket To Ride.’ Taken from the film Help! it was the group’s seventh UK No.1.
1966 – ‘Wild Thing’ by The Troggs (who were originally called The Troglodytes) was released in the U.S. on both the Atco and Fontana labels. The song went on to reach No.1. Fronted by Reg Presley, ‘Wild Thing’ became a major influence on garage rock and punk rock.
1972 – Deep Purple scored their second UK No.1 album with Machine Head. The album which features ‘Smoke on the Water’ and ‘Highway Star’, is often cited as a major influence in the early development of the heavy metal music genre and commercially, it was Deep Purple’s most successful album.
1979 – The Rolling Stones performed two benefit concerts at the Civic Auditorium in Oshawa, Ontario, for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). These shows were part of a court-ordered sentence for guitarist Keith Richards following a 1977 heroin possession conviction in Toronto.
1984 – Prince released his seventh album, Around The World In A Day, the follow-up to Purple Rain. The album became Prince and the Revolution’s second No.1 album on the US Billboard 200. Two of its four singles reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100: ‘Raspberry Beret’ and ‘Pop Life’.
1989 – Madonna started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Like A Prayer’, the singers seventh US No.1, also a No.1 in the UK despite controversy over its video where Madonna dances in front of burning crosses.
2001 – Destiny’s Child went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Survivor.’ Their second chart topper, they were the first US female band to have more than one UK No.1. The song won the trio a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Group.
2007 – Beyoncé & Shakira were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Beautiful Liar’. The track won the Most Earth-Shattering Collaboration award at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards and the song won an Ivor Novello Award for Best-Selling British Song.
Today in history
1662 – King Charles II granted a charter to the Royal Society of London, which became an important centre of scientific activity in England.
1721 – HMS Seahorse infected with smallpox arrives in Boston harbor, causing the first outbreak in two decades. Half of the population catch it, causing 850 deaths.
1778 – James Hargreaves, the English inventor of the spinning jenny died. After he had begun to sell the machines to help support his large family. Hand spinners, fearing unemployment, broke into his house and destroyed a number of jennies, causing Hargreaves to move from Blackburn to Nottingham in 1768.
1834 – The South Atlantic island of St Helena was declared a British crown colony.
1838 – The British steamer Sirius became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean from England to New York. The voyage took 18 days and 10 hours.
1884 – Englishman and General Laborer, Thomas Stevens started his first bicycle trip around the world on a Penny Farthing. The journey took two years and nine months.
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