This Day in History

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Today is April 18, Tax Day in the United States, so, if you haven't filed yet, you better be getting your shit together.

An International Day For Monuments and Sites is commemorated today.


Events

1775 – American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements. "One if by land, two if by sea;"

1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.

1923 – "The House that Ruth Built" opens.

1943 – In Operation Vengeance, in WWII, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.

1949 – The keel for the aircraft carrier USS United States is laid down at Newport News, Virginia. However, construction is canceled five days later, resulting in the Revolt of the Admirals.

1975 - Four Bay City Rollers fans were taken to hospital and 35 others required on site treatment after they attempted to swim across a lake to meet their heroes. The group were making an appearance at a BBC Radio 1 fun day at Mallory Park. This happened on a Friday, the day before S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night.

1983 – A suicide bomber in Lebanon destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people.

1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II. It was in retaliation of damage to the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts, which struck an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf. By the end of the operation, U.S. air and surface units had sunk, or severely damaged, half of Iran's operational fleet.



1857 – Clarence Darrow (lawyer, defended Leopold & Loeb, defended John Scopes in The Scopes Monkey Trial, 1882 – Leopold Stokowski♪ ♫(conductor), 1918 – Clifton Hillegass (created CliffsNotes), 1922 – Barbara Hale ('Della Street' on Perry Mason), 1924 – Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown♪ ♫, 1946 – Hayley Mills, 1946 – Tommy Shannon(Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble), 1947 – James Woods ("Ooh, a piece o' candy."), 1949 – Geoff Bodine, 1953 – Rick Moranis, 1956 – Eric Roberts, 1961 – Jane Leeves ('Daphne' on Frasier, Hot In Cleveland), 1962 – Jeff Dunham ("...on a steek."), 1963 – Eric McCormack (Will & Grace), 1963 – Conan O'Brien (big, tall ginger), 1967 – Maria Bello, 1971 – David Tennant, 1976 – Melissa Joan Hart



1945 – Ernie Pyle (war correspondent, killed on Okinawa), 1955 – Albert Einstein (brainiac), 1986 – Marcel Dassault (founded Dassault Aviation), 1996 – Bernard Edwards(Chic), 2002 – Thor Heyerdahl (sailed the Kon-Tiki 5,000 miles from South America to the Tuamotu Islands), 2012 – Dick Clark (Perhaps you've heard of him?), 2013 – Cordell Mosson(Parliament-Funkadelic)