Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (114th in leap years). There are 252 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasum 1014 - Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle 1348 - The Order of the Garter is founded by King Edward III of England 1521 - Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros 1533 The Roman Catholic Church annuls the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII of England 1597 - The Merry Wives of Windsor is first performed; Queen Elizabeth I of England was in attendance. 1660 - Treaty of Oliva between Sweden and Poland 1661 - King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey 1827 - William Rowan Hamilton presented his Theory of systems of rays 1867 - William Lincoln patents the Zoetrope, a machine which shows animated pictures by mounting a strip of drawings in a wheel 1920 - The national council in Turkey denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution 1923 - Ceremonial inauguration of Gdynia Seaport. 1933 - The Gestapo is established in Germany 1942 - World War II: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York, England 1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa, the major port of Israel, captured from Palestinian forces. 1954 - Hank Aaron hits his first major league home run 1967 - Soyuz 1 is launched into orbit, carrying a single cosmonaut, Colonel Vladimir Komarov, who is killed when the spacecraft crashes after returning to earth. 1968 - The United Kingdom produces its first decimalised coins, a 5p and a 10p coin. 1968 - Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university 1974 - A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 crashes in Bali, Indonesia killing 107 1990 - Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the British Commonwealth 1993 - Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum 1994 - Physicists discover the top quark subatomic particle. 2001 - Intel introduces the Pentium 4 Processor. 2003 - Beijing closes all schools for two weeks due to the SARS virus. Births 1185 - king Afonso II of Portugal 1516 - Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian and archaeologist († 1571) 1564 - William Shakespeare, English playwright, actor - Traditional birth date. Actual date unknown († 1616) 1598 - Maarten Tromp, admiral in the Dutch navy († 1653) 1676 - King Frederick I of Sweden († 1751) 1775 - William Turner, painter († 1851) 1791 - James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States († 1868) 1792 - John Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist († 1882) 1813 - Stephen A. Douglas, Senator from Illinois, candidate for President of the United States († 1861) 1823 - Abd-ul-Mejid, future Ottoman sultan († 1861) 1858 - Max Planck, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1918 († 1947) 1882 - Albert Coates, British composer († 1953) 1889 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral 1891 - Sergei Prokofiev, Soviet composer († 1953) 1893 - Allen Dulles, CIA director († 1969) 1893 - Frank Borzage, director († 1952) 1897 - Lester B. Pearson, fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada († 1972) 1899 - Vladimir Nabokov, writer († 1977) 1899 - Dame Ngaio Marsh, author († 1982) 1916 - Bud Wilkinson, American football coach 1921 - Warren Spahn, Baseball Hall of Famer 1923 - Avram Davidson, science fiction writer († 1993) 1926 - Ruth Leuwerik, actress 1928 - Shirley Temple (Shirley Temple Black), American actress and politician 1932 - Halston, fashion designer († 1990) 1935 - Bunky Green, jazz musician 1936 - Roy Orbison, American singer and musician († 1988) 1939 - Lee Majors, actor 1941 - Paavo Lipponen, Prime Minister of Finland 1942 - Sandra Dee, actress 1954 - Michael Moore, filmmaker 1955 - Judy Davis, actress 1955 - Tony Miles, chess player († 2001) 1960 - Steve Clark, Def Leppard guitarist 1968 - Timothy McVeigh - American terrorist († 2001) 1979 - James King, actress Deaths 1014 - Brian Boru, High King of Ireland during the Battle of Clontarf (* circa 940) 1616 (Julian calendar) - William Shakespeare, English playwright and actor (* 1564) 1616 (Gregorian calendar) - Miguel Cervantes, Spanish author (* 1547) 1792 - Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and adventurer (* 1741) 1850 - William Wordsworth, English poet (* 1770) 1951 - Charles G. Dawes, Vice President of the United States for Calvin Coolidge 1975 - William Hartnell, actor 1983 - Buster Crabbe, Olympics swimming gold medalist, actor 1986 - Otto Preminger, film director 1990 - Paulette Goddard, actress 1992 - Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (* 1921) 1993 - Cesar Chavez, labor activist (* 1927) 1995 - Howard Cosell, sports journalist 1996 - Pamela L. Travers, author 1998 - James Earl Ray, assassin (* 1928) 2002 - Linda Lovelace, pornographic film star (* 1949) Holidays and observances Jurgi festival, in ancient Latvia St. Jordi's day in Catalonia, presents of books and roses. Feast Day of Saint George Independence Day for the Conch Republic See Also: April 22 - April 24 - March 23 - May 23 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.