Just found that out from a friend and fellow Toastmaster- we are great finders of odd things. Plus everybody is so focused on taxes and this takes our attention away, even for a moment. Besides Lincoln dying and the Titanic sinking,, which did happen on this day in history there were some other events to make the news.
Handel’s opera Serse (or in Greek Xerxes) premiered in London in 1738. Samuel Johnson published his Dictionary of the English language in 1755. And Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc co-founded the American School for the Deaf in Hartford Connecticut in 1817. Gallaudet went on to found Gallaudet University in Washington DC in 1864.
In 1892 General Electric Company was formed. In 1896 the closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens. And in 1947 Jackie Robinson made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African American in the major leagues.
Three political leaders were born on this date: Catherine the Great of Russia (1684); Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1894); and Harold Washington(1922) the first African American mayor of Chicago. Four actresses started their performances on this date: Elizabeth Montgomery (1933 Bewitched); Emma Thompson (1959, Harry Potter and Love Actually among others); Emma Watson (1990, Harry Potter and others); and Maisie Williams (1997, Game of Thrones most notably).
It was also the birthdate for authors Henry James (1843) and Corrie Ten Boom (1892), as well as the co-inventor of Gore-Tex, Robert Gore (1937).
Along with President Lincoln and approximately 1500 passengers and crew of the Titanic, it was the day of passing for a few more folks. French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1980); Hollywood glamour girl Greta Garbo (1990), and – not mourned Cambodian dictator Pol Pot(1998).
Along with being National Rubber Eraser Day, it is also National American Sign Language Day, Universal Day of Culture, and World Art Day.
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