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reetings from Australia. 

Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.

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Carpe diem! (Seize the day!)

Pip Wilson

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Today is

Liberty, then, is the sovereignty of the individual, and never shall man know liberty until each and every individual is acknowledged to be the only legitimate sovereign of his or her person, time, and property, each living and acting at his own cost.
Josiah Warren (b. 1798), American communitarian who died on April 14, 1874

An impression has gone abroad that I am engaged in forming societies. This is a very great mistake, which I feel bound to correct.
  Those who have heard or read anything from me on the subject, know that one of the principal points insisted on is, the forming of societies or any other artificial combinations IS the first, greatest, and most fatal mistake ever committed by legislators and by reformers. That all these combinations require the surrender of the natural sovereignty of the INDIVIDUAL over her or his person, time, property and responsibilities, to the government of the combination. That this tends to prostrate the individual – To reduce him to a mere piece of a machine; involving others in responsibility for his acts, and being involved in responsibilities for the acts and sentiments of his associates; he lives & acts, without proper control over his own affairs, without certainty as to the results of his actions, and almost without brains that he dares to use on his own account; and consequently never realizes the great objects for which society is professedly formed.
  Some portion, at least, of those who have attended the public meetings, know that EQUITABLE COMMERCE is founded on a principle exactly opposite to combination; this principle may be called that of Individuality. It leaves every one in undisturbed possession of his or her natural and proper sovereignty over its own person, time, property and responsibilities; & no one is acquired or expected to surrender any "portion" of his natural liberty by joining any society whatever; nor to become in any way responsible for the acts or sentiments of any one but himself; nor is there any arrangement by which even the whole body can exercise any government over the person, time property or responsibility of a single individual.
Josiah Warren; Manifesto, written at New Harmony, November 27, 1841

Of all the remarkable people associated with New Harmony, the most remarkable by far was Josiah Warren. Had he been a general, a politician, or a capitalist, he would have been one of the most famous of all Americans. He was a genuinely universal man — a talented musician accomplished on several instruments, a craftsman skilled in several crafts, an important inventor, an economist, philosopher, and founder of American individual anarchism — as a movement at least, since Thoreau was too individualistic to be the founder of a movement.
Kenneth Rexroth; chapter on Josiah Warren in Communalism

America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.
Arnold Toynbee, British historian, born on April 14, 1889

One mustn't allow acting to be like stockbroking – you must not take it just as a means of earning a living, to go down every day to do a job of work. The big thing is to combine punctuality, efficiency, good nature, obedience, intelligence, and concentration with an unawareness of what is going to happen next, thus keeping yourself available for excitement.
Sir John Gielgud, British actor, born on April 14, 1904  

When you're my age, you just never risk being ill – because then everyone says, "Oh, he's done for".
Sir John Gielgud, aged 84  

Like all professions acting has terrible drawbacks. It can be fearfully boring, fearfully unglamorous ... But what is fun about the theatre is that we get our prizes while we are alive to enjoy them. We have the pleasure of the audience's reaction, we have the applause, we have the publicity, we have the tribute and the honours and whatever it may be. Much more than we probably deserve.
Sir John Gielgud

The beauty of the living world I was trying to save has always been uppermost in my mind – that, and anger at the senseless, brutish things that were being done …
Rachel Carson (b. 1907), American author of Silent Spring, who died on April 14, 1964

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
Rachel Carson

Every mystery solved brings us to the threshold of a greater one.
Rachel Carson

Why are privates shown videos of US military massacres while playing Metallica in the background, thus causing us to scream with the joy of the killer instinct as brown bodies are obliterated? Why do privates answer every command with an enthusiastic, "kill!!" instead of, "yes, sir!!" like it is in the movies? Why do we sing cadences like these?:

"Throw some candy in the school yard, watch the children gather round. Load a belt in your M-60, mow them little bastards down!!" and "We're gonna rape, kill, pillage and burn, gonna rape, kill, pillage and burn!!"

These chants are meant to motivate the troops; they enjoy it, salivate from it, and get off on it. If one repeats these hundreds of times, one eventually begins to accept them as paradigmatically valid.
Chris White, former US Marine sergeant; Why I Oppose the US War on Terror: an ex-Marine Sergeant Speaks Out

April 14 is the 104^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (105^th in leap years), with 261 days remaining.
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Feast day of Ss Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus, martyrs in Rome

All three were given parts in the legend of St Cecilia and honoured at Rome from an early date. The Roman Martyrology says that Tiburtius and the others suffered under Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, who ruled from 222 - 235. (Valerian is also known as Valerianus.)

An old English saying goes: "The cuckoo sings from St Tiburtius's Day to St John's day [June 24]".

Another says;

In April the cuckoo shows his bill;
In May he sings all day;
In June he alters his tune;
In July away he'll fly;
In August go he must.

And;

Turn your money when you hear the cuckoo, and you'll have money in your purse till he come again. 

 

Cuckoo Day, England

Although strongly identified with St Tiburtius's Day, Cuckoo Day may really be described as a 'moveable feast' dependent upon the variability of Nature. The common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, overwinters in Africa and returns to the UK in Spring, but the arrival date varies. 

(Cuckoo populations are believed to have fallen over the past 30 years, by as much as 20 per cent in farmland areas and 60 per cent in woodlands. Many factors are to blame, primarily our consumerist Western lifestyle and its effect on Nature.)

In keeping with the fact that Westerners in previous years enjoyed many more holidays than today's wage slaves, in Shropshire, England, when the first cuckoo was heard, the workers would all knock off work and spend the rest of the day carousing in what they called the 'cuckoo ale'.

More cuckoo folklore

It is unlucky not to have money in pocket when you first hear the cuckoo. When a girl first hears one, if she removes her left shoe she is assured of finding in it a hair of the same colour as that of her future husband.

It's an old Danish custom that in early Springtime, when  the cuckoo is first heard in the woods, every village girl kisses her hand and asks, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo! When shall I be married?" On the other hand, old folks ask, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo! When shall I be be released from this world's cares?" The bird, in answer, keeps singing "Cuckoo!" as many times as years will elapse before their wishes are met.

The song, 'Sumer is icumen in', which has the chorus, 'Sing cuccu' is said to be the oldest English language song known from a sample manuscript (MSS Harl. No 978) with musical notation. It dates from the early 13^th Century. We have reproduced the first verse, above.

There is an early English poem, in the Latin language, that shows that the cuckoo has long been considered the harbinger of Spring. Part of it goes: 'Tempus adest veris, cuculus, modo rumpe soporem'.

In some parts of England, it was believed that the cuckoo always made its first appearance on April 21; others said April 20, and there are other variants.

In olden times, some believed that the cuckoo had supernatural knowledge. Some believed that the bird was an incarnation of one deity or another, and it was often a crime to kill it. The notion that the cuckoo could tell how long a person would live was widespread in northern Europe and many parts of Germany. It was believed that if, first thing in the morning, you ask respectfully how long you will live, it would repeat its note accordingly.

The Latin writer, Caesarius of Heisterbach, wrote in 1221 that a 'converse' (ie, a layman who had become a monk) in a certain monastery was out walking one day. He noted that the cuckoo's musical answer to his question "How many years shall I live from now" was 22. "Ah," said the monk, "If I am to live so long, why should I mortify myself for all those years in this monastic life? I'll leave, and live a life of sinful pleasures in the world for 20 years, then have a comfortable two years in which to repent." Sadly, he left the cloisters and died after just two years. The good news is that those two years were very, very good. More examples of the cuckoo-age belief are to be found in Wright's Selection of Latin Stories and the 13^th Century romance of Renart (Reynard the Fox).

Cuckold

Cuckold [ME cukeweld, cokewold (3 syllables) – AFr. Cucuald, var. of Ofr. Cucuault (xv), f. cucu CUCKOO + pejorative suffix –ald, -aud, -ault.] 1. The husband of an unfaithful wife. Derisory.
Shorter Oxford Dictionary

Chambers writes: "The notion which couples the name of the cuckoo with the character of the man whose wife is unfaithful to him, appears to have been derived from the Romans, and is first found in the Middle Ages in France, and in the countries of which the modern language is derived from the Latin. We are not aware that it existed originally in the Teutonic race, and we have doubtless received it through the Normans. The opinion is that the cuckoo made no nest of its own, but laid its eggs in that of another bird which brought up the young cuckoo to the detriment of its own offspring, was well known to the ancients and is mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny. But they more correctly gave the name of the bird not to the husband of the faithless wife, but to her paramour, who might justly be supposed to be acting the part of the cuckoo. They gave the name of the bird in whose nest the cuckoo's eggs were usually deposited, curraca, to the husband. It is not quite clear how, in the passage from classical to mediæval, the application of the term was transferred to the husband."

 

 

The cuckolding man has been depicted as having two horns on his head. 

See the Horned God article at the Scriptorium

 

 

 

The bird is named after its song in most languages: coucou in French, koekoek in Dutch, kuckuck in German, cuco in Spanish and kak-ko in Japanese.

More 'Cuckoo Days' in the Book of Days:

April 15, Arrival of the cuckoo, Hampshire; April 25, 'St Mark's gowk'; April 27's Marsden, UK, Cuckoo Day, and April 28, Towednack (UK) Cuckoo Feast.

See also at the Scriptorium The Wise Fools of Gotham and the story of the Cuckoo Bush.

Cuckoo migration (UK)    The great migration crisis

International Migratory Bird Day is the second Saturday in May (see May 8).

"In mid to late April the cuckoo arrives, and one of the best places to see their first landfall is the Scilly Isles. Traditionally, the bird is expected in Sussex on 14^th, Cheshire on 15^th, Worcestershire on the 20^th and Yorkshire on 21^st. Traditional too is the report of the first cuckoo on the letters pages of the Times newspaper - announcing the arrival of spring.

"Several places have events celebrating the arrival of 'the merry cuckoo, messenger of spring'.

"April 14^th is traditionally First Cuckoo Day. A tale of Heathfield Fair in East Sussex depicts the Old Woman releasing the Cuckoo from her basket, whereupon he 'flies up England carrying warmer days with him'.

"On 15^th in Hampshire 'the cuckoo goes to Beaulieu Fair to buy him a great coat', according to the English Dialect Dictionary."   Source

More cuckoo lore

ilson's Almanac and Phenology

Nature and calendar side-by-side

Cuckoo Day is a good time to think about how Ma Nature's clocks are 'going cuckoo'. I like to think that Wilson's Almanac has something to say about our place in Nature, and how 'seizing the day' is best when we seize it with all its glorious natural wonders that surround us. I hope that when you visit the Almanac, you'll learn with me more about how Nature has always had a huge influence in the conscious and unconscious life of humanity.

There is now a science of studying the calendar in relation to natural phenomena that will probably interest Almaniacs. Phenology is the study of the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena, such as the migrations and breeding of birds, the flowering and fruiting of plants, and so on.

Webster-Merriam's Dictionary defines it thus: "a branch of science dealing with the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena (as bird migration or plant flowering)". Phenology is related to biometeorology, an interdisciplinary science studying the interactions between atmospheric processes and living organisms – plants, animals and humans.

Wikipedia notes in its article on phenology that in Japan and China the time of blossoming of cherry and peach trees is associated with ancient festivals and some of these dates can be traced back to the eighth century. Such records form an important part of climate change research. The pinot noir grape can also be used in historical phenology. Writing in Nature, Isabelle Chuine and co-workers describe how French records of pinot noir grape-harvest dates in Burgundy can be used to reconstruct Spring - Summer temperatures from 1370 to 2003. Chuine found that 2003 summer temperatures were probably higher than in any other year since 1370.

Phenology UK has a good website which puts it this way:

"Phenology is the study of the times of recurring natural phenomena especially in relation to climate change. It is recording when you heard the first cuckoo or saw the blackthorn blossom. This can then be compared with other records."

In these days of climate change, you can see how important folklore and Nature observation can be when they work together. Sometimes we can tell much about the damage being done by our lifestyles, by comparing today with yesterday. The rapidly disappearing Springtime song of "Cuck-oo! Cuck-oo", such a prominent sound in old British calendar customs, gives just one example of how all this ties together, and why I commend 'amateur phenology' to Almaniacs.

For Australians, the Scribbly Gum website is an interesting place to read up on Aussie natural phenomena through the calendar, and Macquarie University (Sydney) has its Biowatch phenology project – if you know of more Southern Hemisphere links, I'd be grateful for the information, which isn't easy to obtain.

How the blurring of the seasons is a harbinger of climate calamity

Phenology in the news

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Click stars for Universe today Cafe Diem! Our store Highly recommended: Folklore of World Holidays by Margaret Read MacDonald Against All Enemies: Inside the White House's War on Terror – What Really Happened The Passion Mel Gibson A Guide to the Passion Power and Terror - Noam Chomsky The Pagan Prosperity The Triumph of the Moon The Celtic Dragon Tarot Sabbat Entertaining The Pagan Book of Days The Rise of the Creative Class Celebrate the Earth A Year of Holidays in the Pagan Tradition Wheel of the Year The Trouble with Islam Brave Hearts, Rebel Spirits The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq Lady Godiva Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture Activists Beyond Borders The Book of Spells Spellcraft The Book of Saints The Encyclopedia of Saints Daily Everything Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable   To support this project Search by keywords for books, music, computers, software, home and family products and much more.     Search for posters What Would Jefferson Do? By Thom Hartmann The Price of Loyalty The Torture Debate in America The Culture of the New Capitalism Pagan Christianity Lawless World   The Great War for Civilisation By Robert Fisk The God Who Wasn't There A Question of Torture By Alfred McCoy When Corporations Rule the World Crimes Against Nature : How George W Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy By Robert F Kennedy, Jr The Skeptic's Dictionary Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them 365 Goddess Adventures in a TV Nation Michael Moore Drawing Down the Moon Globalization/Anti-Globalization More books, calendars, T-shirts, mugs, music, posters, etc at   Cafe Diem! Celtic Daily Prayer Dude, Where's My Country? Photo of the day Mother Earth Spirituality Rich Media, Poor Democracy Robert McChesney Shamanism Women's Activism and Globalization Back To Titanic Titanic Titanic Titanic - The Complete Story Raise the Titanic By Clive Cussler Titanic Starship Titanic Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic Last Dinner On the Titanic Menus and Recipes Titanic Return to Titanic Click to promote  your blog or website  another excellent  way we do

Festival of Ba'ath, Egypt Source Cerealia, for goddess Ceres, ancient Rome  (Apr 12 - 19) Circensian games, ancient Rome  (Apr 12 - 19; Sep 4 - 19) India: Hindu Goddess of the sea Mariamne (or Maryamma) is honoured with a sacred festival Source: Earth, Moon and Sky Sommarsblót, Norse festival to welcome Summer Celtic tree month of Fearn (Alder) (Mar 18 - Apr 14) ends New Year Water Splashing Festival, China, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos (Apr 13 - 15) Feast day of St Abundius the Sacristan Feast day of St Antony of Vilna Feast day of St Ardalion Feast day of St Benezet, patron of Avignon Feast day of St Carpus of Thyatira, and others Feast day of St Domnina Feast day of St Eustace of Vilna He was crucified on a tree in 13 December 1342 at Vilna, Lithuania. Feast day of St Lambert of Lyon Feast day of Blessed Lydwina of Schiedam (Borage, Borago officinalis, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) She is the patroness of bodily ills, ice skating, prolonged suffering, roller skating sick people, sickness, skaters, skating. "Lydwine suffered a fall while ice skating in 1396, when a friend collided with her and caused her to break a rib on the right side. From this injury, she never recovered. An abscess formed inside her body which later burst and caused Lydwine extreme suffering. Eventually, she was to suffer a series of mysterious illnesses which in retrospect seemed to be from the hands of God."   Source Feast day of St Marguerite d'Youville Feast day of St Peter Gonzalez (Telm; Elm; Telmo; Elmo; Erasmus; Pedro Gonzalez; Pietro Gonzalez; Peter Gonzales) (Green stitchwort, Stellaria holostea, is also today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) "Dominican protector of captives and sailors. Born in Astorga, Spain, he entered the Dominicans and became the chaplain and confessor of King St. Ferdinand of Castile. He preached a campaign against the Moors, and then cared for the captured Muslims. He also cared for sailors, who dubbed him Thelmo, after St. Elmo."   Source (Not to be confused with St Erasmus [Elmo of Formiae], bishop and martyr, feast day June 2.) Feast day of St Tassach Feast day of St Thomais Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints National Fast and Prayer Day, Liberia Pan American Day (Day of the Americas), Honduras Pan-American Day, Haiti Pi Mai (Laos New Year), Laos Varushapirapu, Tamil New Year (c. Apr 13 - 14) Bpee Mai (Songkan; New Year), Laos (c. Apr 13 - c. 16) Chaul Chnam Thmey (New Year), Cambodia (c. Apr 13 - c. 15) Wanabat is the name of the second day of the new year celebration. People contribute charity to the less fortunate, help the poor, servants, homeless people, and low-income families. Families attend a dedication ceremony to their ancestors at the monastery. Today is a Cambodian public holiday and considered to be the most important festival on the calendar. New Year celebrations in parts of India and whole of Sri Lanka A note on the dating of items in the Almanac Baisakhi, Punjab, India Poila Baisakh, Bengal, India Vishu Harvest festival in Kerala, India   Black Day, South Korea Today is an informal celebration day (with recent origins in commerce) for single people to get together and eat noodles with black bean sauce. Singles: dress in black today! Those who didn't give or receive gifts on Valentine's Day or White Day, can get together and eat jajang myeon (jja jang myeong), Korean-Chinese noodles with black bean sauce (hence the name) to commiserate their singledom. The number of chocolates received by men from women on February 14 (Valentine's Day) may be taken as an indication of his popularity. The men get their own back on White Day (March 14) when the custom is to give white gifts of chocolates, sweets (candy), marshmallows or biscuits (cookies) to the women or girls of their fancy. 'Black day' also refers to the day honouring Tomonari Ishigoro, the Japanese yoyoer. "In addition to White Day, Black Day, Yellow Day, Blue Day and other color days are known for 14th day of the following months."   Source " … as well as Rose Day (May 14) and even Kiss Day (June 14). As the effectiveness of the so-called 'day marketing' is no more a secret, a great variety of 'uniquely Korean' celebration days have appeared recently.  "January 1 of every year is Pear Day. Its celebration originated at a New Year festival in Naju, South Jeolla, as pears came to symbolize abundance (the word 'pear' in Korean sounds exactly as the word 'double' or 'multiples'). Samgyepsal Day, or the day when Koreans eat 'samgyepsal,' or three-layered pork, is March 3, whereas '3' symbolizes the three layers of meat. This day is marked to boost pork consumption. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation designated September 9 as 'Gugu Day,' or 'nine-nine day,' as the day of eating chicken meat and eggs ('gugu' means 'Cluck! Cluck!' in Korean). May 2 is Cucumber Day ('5/2' is pronounced as 'oi' in Korean, which sounds exactly as the Korean word 'cucumber.'). It is also Duck Day, or the day of eating duck meat, because 'duck' in Korean ('ori') resembles the word 'oi,' or '5/2.' Peach (boksunga) Day is celebrated in summer to wish happiness as 'bok' also means 'happiness' and 'summer' in Chinese characters. "Why so many new events? "The peculiarity of all these new 'days' is that nobody knows for sure who designated them and for what reasons. Not only is it almost impossible to grasp how many 'days' we have to celebrate, but also their number keeps proliferating among teenagers and people in their 20s on the Internet and by word of mouth. People ascribe special meanings to new anniversaries, while businesses target consumers' sentimentality to make profits." Anniversary and celebration boom in Korea Korean food    More   Youth Day, Angola Runic half-month of Man commences "A time when the archetypal reality of the human condition should be meditated upon." Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 60 Nagasaki Takoage, or Kite-Flying Event, Nagasaki, Japan (Apr 3 - 29) Tsurugaoka Hachiman (Shrine) Spring Festival, Japan (Apr 7 - 14) Zōjō-ji (Zojoji) Matsuri, Tokyo, Japan (Apr 13 - 15) Nagahama Yamakyogen, Japan (Apr 13 - 16) Yayoi Matsuri, Japan (Apr 13 - 17) Feast days of Songkran, Thai New Year (Apr 13 - 15) Faroese can't eat eggs today People of the Faroe Islands, situated about halfway between Iceland and Norway, should never eat eggs on this day, which marks the end of Winter. Old custom says that anyone who does will suffer boils for the rest of the year. Venetia Newall, An Egg at Easter: A Folklore Study, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1971, p. 87       1629 Christiaan Huygens (d. 1695), mathematician and astronomer who discovered Saturn's rings 1827 Augustus Pitt Rivers, archaeologist (d. 1900) 1831 Gerhard Rohlfs, scientist (d. 1896) 1842 Catherine Eddowes, fourth confirmed victim of Jack the Ripper (d. 1888)   1860 George Robertson (d. August 27, 1933), Australian bookseller and publisher, one half (with DM Angus [b. 1855] until the latter's death in 1901) of Angus & Robertson, the pre-eminent publisher of Australian writers especially from the golden era circa 1895 to 1925. In about 1895, A&R branched from just bookselling to publishing as well. Among the authors were May Gibbs, Norman Lindsay, Henry Lawson, CJ Dennis, AB 'Banjo' Paterson and Victor Daley. Robertson not only recognized many a promising author and artist, he often took considerable risks with backing their careers, and, as Lawson found many times, extended many kindnesses, gifts and loans. Although for a long period Robertson forbade Lawson to enter the A&R premises, because the poet was so loud (being deaf), disruptive and often drunk, Lawson understood Robertson's position and he sometimes signed his letters to Robertson "Your friend till death". "During the last 30 years of his life the number of volumes he published exceeded the total number brought out in the same period by all the other publishers in Australia. The Australian Encyclopaedia, published in two volumes in 1926, is one of the most important books published in Australia." [My grandfather was one of its typesetters – PW.]   Source Angus & Robertson: Administrative History Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson   1862 (April 2 Old Style) Pyotr Stolypin (d. September 18 (September 5 Old Style) 1911), Tsar Nicholas II's Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) from 1906 to 1911. He became known for his heavy-handed opposition to revolutionary groups and for instituting the agrarian reform. Nicholas put him in charge of a reign of terror that saw thousands executed. He died some days after being shot by an assassin while at the opera in Kiev in the presence of the Tsar. 1889 Arnold J Toynbee (d. October 22, 1975), British historian (A Study of History) "Of the many books written by Toynbee, the 12-volume series A Study of History (1934-1961) has had considerable influence on modern attitudes toward history, religion, and international affairs. It is a comparative study of 26 civilizations in world history, analyzing their genesis, growth, and disintegration. According to Toynbee's hypothesis, the failure of a civilization to survive was the result of its inability to respond to moral and religious challenges, rather than to physical or environmental challenges."   Source 1904 Sir John Gielgud (d. May 21, 2000), British actor who has been arguably called the last century's greatest Hamlet (Hamlet; Prospero's Books; Murder on the Orient Express) "While still performing and directing for the stage in England and the U.S. (winning a Tony Award for directing the play 'Big Fish, Little Fish'), he was memorable on-screen in Richard III (1955, opposite Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson), Becket (1964, an Oscarnominated turn as King Louis VII), The Loved One (1965, a delicious blackcomedy performance), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), and Providence (1977). But it was his Oscar-winning comic performance as Dudley Moore's acid-tongued manservant in Arthur (1981) that resulted in widespread recognition from the moviegoing masses. He has since added his regal presence to such films as Chariots of Fire (1981), Gandhi (1982), The Shooting Party, Plenty (both 1985), The Whistle Blower (1987), the controversial Prospero's Books (1991), Shining Through and The Power of One (both 1992)."   Source Hear Sir John Gielgud read from Sonnets of William Shakespeare. (Macintosh, 1.4MB aif file or Windows, 1.4MB wav file or RealAudio, 125K .ra file) 1907 François Duvalier (Papa Doc Duvalier), Haitian dictator 1925 Rod Steiger (d. 2002), Oscar-winning American actor 1935 Erich von Däniken (Erich von Daniken), controversial Swiss author best known for pseudoscience books (notably the widely discredited Chariots of the Gods) about extraterrestrial influence on human culture since prehistoric times. He is one of the figures responsible for popularizing the paleocontact and ancient astronaut theories. Erich von Däniken's official homepage    Skeptic's Dictionary entry UK Channel 4 biographical research    UFO Evidence page - both pro and con links World Mysteries.com von Daniken page    AAS RA homepage Daniken entry from the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy and Spaceflight 1935 Loretta Lynn, American country and western singer about whom a biopic, Coal Miner's Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek, was made, recounting her rise from rags to riches and her marriage at the age of 13 (some sources say 14, and, as with many showbiz personalities, sources differ as to the year of her birth) "In the middle of the [1970s] she wrote and sang her most controversial song, The Pill, which told the truth about women intelligently using the latest birth control method. While women across the country bought 15,000 copies a week and made the song a #1 hit, it was simultaneously denounced in churches and blacklisted at some radio stations. She followed up with Pregnant Again, another hit. Rated X was another controversial song, this time about divorce. What these topical songs did was to enlarge the audience for country music, as new fans were attracted who had previously never listened to the genre before."   Source 1936 Frank Serpico, retired New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer who gained fame in 1971 as the first police officer to testify against police corruption 1941 Julie Christie, Indian-born British actress (Billy Liar; Fahrenheit 451; Shampoo) 1942 Valentin Lebedev, cosmonaut 1945 Ritchie Blackmore, rock music guitarist 1951 Julian Lloyd Webber, musician 1957 Richard Jeni (d. 2007), American stand-up comedian 1960 Brad Garrett, American actor and comedian 1968 Anthony Michael Hall, actor 1973 Adrien Brody, actor 1974 Da Brat, rap musician 1977 Sarah Michelle Gellar, actress   Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section Send a free e-card greeting for today's celebrations to a loved one Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year. Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Passover [ Varies ] Birthdays Tax Day, USA [ Apr 15 ] Cuckoo Day Varies Full Moon Day Varies Friday the 13th Varies Ugadi Varies Gudi Padwa Varies Ram Navami Varies Palm Sunday Varies Mawlid al-Nabi Varies Passover Varies Orthodox Holy Friday Varies Good Friday Varies Orthodox Easter Varies Easter Varies Baisakhi Varies Mahavir Jayanti Varies Hanuman Jayanti Varies Tamil New Year Varies Bengali New Year Varies Malayalam New Year Varies Arbor Day Varies Child Care Professionals Day   April 14 Pecan Day 15 Tax Day (USA) 15 Fast Food Day 16 Rubber Eraser Day 16 Freak-out Day 16 Leonardo da Vinci's Birthday 17 Stress Awareness Day 17 Eggs Benedict Day 17 Birthday Of The Queen (Denmark) 18 Cheeseball Day 17 Nosy Neighbour Appreciation Day 18 Time Out Day 19 Primrose Day 19 Cow Chip Day 20 Lima Bean Respect Day 21 Kindergarten Day 21 Birthday Of Charlotte Bronte 22 Earth Day 22 April Showers Day 22 Hot Dog Day 22 Jelly Bean Day 22 Oklahoma Day 22 Crawfish Festival (Florida, USA) 23 Cherry Cheesecake Day 23 St George's Day 23 Shakespeare's Birthday 24 Ambivalence Day 25 Cuckoo Day 25 Anzac Day (Australia) 25 Anzac Day (New Zealand) 25 Holocaust Remembrance Day 25 Zucchini Bread Day 26 Pretzel Day 26 Bird Day 26 International Guide Dog Day 27 Morse Code Day 28 Kiss Day 29 Zipper Day 29 Spring Festival (California, USA) 29 International Dance Day   ... More Events Visit the Blogmanac, where today's Almanac is 'live' And I hope you will sign my GuestMap           If you are enjoying this page, click to receive similar items daily with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine Webmaster, webmasters free content, or else articles at very reasonable rates Pip Wilson's articles are available for your website or publication, on application. Further details   43 BCE Battle of Forum Gallorum (modern Castelfranco, Italy). Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in Mutina, defeated the forces of the consul Pansa, who was killed. 69 CE Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeated Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum and seized the throne. 74 According to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, 967 Jewish zealots committed mass suicide within the fortress of Masada on this last night before the walls were breached by the attacking Roman Tenth Legion. (Two women and five children survived by hiding in a cistern, and were later released unharmed by the Romans.) More 1205 Battle of Adrianople between Bulgars and Crusaders. 1291 A body of Knights Templar made a night raid on the Moslem camp at the Siege of Acre. They were all killed. 1360 'Black Monday'. Edward III of England lost many of his men in the cold while besieging Paris. "Supposedly Easter Monday, 14 April 1360, when Edward III was besieging Paris. The day was so dark, windy and bitterly cold that many men and horses died. In fact 14 April 1360 fell on the Tuesday of the week after Easter. The Monday after Easter Monday is called "Black Monday" in allusion to this fateful day." Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988 1471 The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians at Battle of Barnet, in the Wars of the Roses.   Numerous UFOs over Nuremberg, Germany, April 14, 1561.  Hans Glaser wood-cut from 1566, 5 years after the event. 1561 At sunrise, many people in Nuremberg, Germany, watched for an hour as fast-moving 'globes', 'spears' and 'plates' moved in the sky – a multitude of objects seemingly engaged in an aerial battle. Small spheres and discs were said to emerge from large cylinders. A similar phenomenon occurred at Basel, Switzerland, on August 7, 1566 (qv). "The sky appeared to fill with cylindrical objects from which red, black, orange and blue white disks and globes emerged. Crosses and tubes resembling cannon barrels also appeared whereupon the objects promptly "began to fight one another." After about an hour of battle, the objects seemed too catch fire and fell to Earth, where they turned too steam. The witnesses took this display as a divine warning. This report is unique in the annals of Ufology, in that it has never been repeated. There is no record of such "objects" in either local or German national folklore. The surviving Town records from the period, give no indication of any unrest either civil or external."   Source 1611 The 'telescope' was named at a banquet given by Federico Cesi, Duke of Acquasparta, Italy, and founder of the Accademia dei Lincei. 1684 It was announced in the Gazette of London that all "mountebanks, rope-dancers and ballad-singers" must be licensed with the Master of Revels. 1690 William Barwick drowned his pregnant wife, Mary, near York, England. Her ghost, it is said, came a week later to her brother-in-law, Thomas Lofthouse, who then became suspicious of Mary's absence from her home. Soon Barwick was charged with murder by the Lord Mayor of York. 1713 Joseph Addison's Cato premiered. George Washington was so taken with the character of Cato the Younger in Addison's Cato that he made the Roman republican his role model. He went to see Cato numerous times from early manhood into maturity and even had it performed for his troops at Valley Forge despite a congressional resolution that plays were inimical to republican virtue. Washington included lines from the play in his private correspondence and even in his farewell address. Jim Stockdale; Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot, Hoover Press, 1995, p.75 I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. Nathan Hale (1755 - 1776), US revolutionary soldier; speech, September 22, 1776, before being executed as a spy by the British. In 1713, English author Joseph Addison had written similar words: "What pity is it/That we can die but once to serve our country!" (Cato, act 4, sc. 4) 1756 USA: Pennsylvania Governor Morris's declaration of war on the Delaware Indians stated "for the scalp of every male Indian enemy, the sum of 130 pieces of eight". 1759 Death of George Frideric Handel (b. 1685), composer.   1772 Elizabeth Russell, more than 100 years old, was buried at Streatham, England. This was entered in the parish register on the day: "This person was always known under the guise or habit of a woman, and answered to the name of Elizabeth, as registered in this parish, Nov. 21st 1669, but on death proved to be a man." John Russell, his father, had three daughters and two sons, William and John, who were baptized respectively in 1668 and 1672. "There is little doubt, therefore, that the person here recorded was one of the two", wrote Lyson, in his Environs of London. Russell worked for much of his life as an astrologer and quack physician, and was a good seamstress. Dr Samuel Johnson knew 'her' when Russell was an old man, and found the transgendered Russell to be intelligent and agreeable company. More   1775 The first abolition society in the USA was organised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1788 USA: The Doctors' Riot. Five were killed as a mob stormed the Doctors Hospital in New York, where Columbia University doctors and students were dissecting human corpses, many stolen from local cemeteries. 1812 Luddites in Sheffield, England, went on a food riot – mainly women and boys seized potatoes and other vegetables and attacked a militia arms store. More on Luddites 1814 The USA repealed its trade embargo on Britain. 1822 Scottish historical novelist and poet, Sir Walter Scott, entertained Britain's King George IV when the king visited Edinburgh. He gave Scott a precious glass goblet, which Scott put in his coat – he later sat down on it and crushed it. 1828 USA: Noah Webster copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary, the American Dictionary of the English Language ('Webster's Dictionary'), 22 years in preparation. It introduced 'Americanisms' – 12,000 words never entered before in any dictionary. 1864 Battle at the 'Düppeler Schanzen'. The Prussian Army defeated the Danish and finally separated Schleswig from Danmark; Schleswig became a part of Germany. 1865 Abraham Lincoln was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre; the US President died the next day. Lincoln's eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln was not present at the assassination of his father, but had been invited to attend the play at Ford's Theatre with his parents and declined due to tiredness. He was, however, present at the assassinations of Presidents James Garfield and William McKinley. Contents of Abraham Lincoln's Pockets    The Assassination of President Lincoln Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy Theories 1872 Jules Verne's classic, Around the World in Eighty Days, began serialised publication in Le Temps, a Paris daily newspaper.   1874 Death of Josiah Warren (b. date unknown, 1798), American reformer, inventor, musician, printer, typographer, author (True Civilization; Equitable Commerce; Manifesto, written at Robert Owen's community, New Harmony). He was a co-founder, with Stephen Pearl Andrews (1812 - '86), of  Modern Times community. Warren is sometimes called "the first individualist anarchist in America". From January 1833, Warren published The Peaceful Revolutionist, arguably the first anarchist paper in the world. Philosopher John Stuart Mill, an admirer of Warren, in his Autobiography adopted Warren's phrase, 'sovereignty of the individual'. "He took an active part in Robert Owen's communistic experiment at New Harmony, Indiana, in 1825-'6, and was so discouraged by its failure that he was on the point of abandoning any further attempt in that direction when, as he said, 'a new train of thought seemed to throw a sudden flash of light upon our past errors, and to show plainly the path to be pursued.' He forthwith gave up the idea of maintaining a communal system of society, and sought to attain the same ends through individual sovereignty. He held that the proper reward of labor was a like amount of labor, and elucidated his theory by a supposition. 'If I am a bricklayer, and need the services of a physician, an hour of my work in bricklaying is the proper recompense to be given the physician for an hour of his services.' He proved the sincerity of his belief in this idea by establishing what was known as the 'time store' in Cincinnati, Ohio, which he conducted with fair success for two years, giving and receiving labor-notes in transactions with his customers. He propounded his theories in a work entitled the 'True Civilization,' and some of his views elicited the commendation of John Stuart Mill."   Source "Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews were brilliant and idealistic men, social reformers whose dream was to create a utopia where everyone would live in harmony, where profit would be a dirty word and absolute personal freedom – including ``free love' – would be the ultimate goal. "So it was almost 150 years ago that Warren and Andrews founded Modern Times, a social experiment that occupied, for a volatile 13 years, the land that now is part of Brentwood. Short-lived though it was, Modern Times left its mark as a place whose time had not yet come: Its maverick residents, who never numbered more than 150, were free to cohabit with or without marriage. To be sure, this was what gave the place its reputation as a 'Sodom of the pine barrens,' but it was only part of what Modern Times was about. The village operated harmoniously for several years without police, courts or crime. All residents were allowed total personal freedom as long as their actions hurt no one else. Food, clothing, land and housing – all the necessities – were sold at cost."   Source Warren was cited in the article on Anarchism by none other than Prince Peter Kropotkin in the famed 1910 edition of The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Others Kropotkin cites include Stephen Pearl Andrews, Lysander Spooner, Benjamin Tucker, Herbert Spencer, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, August Spies, Albert Parsons. Kropotkin adds: "anarchism is connected with all the intellectual movement of our own times. J. S. Mill's Liberty, [Herbert] Spencer's Individual versus the State, Marc Guyau's Morality without Obligation or Sanction, and Fouillée's La Morale, I'art et la religion, the works of Multatuli (E. Douwes Dekker), Richard Wagner's Art and Revolution, the works of Nietzsche, Emerson, W. Lloyd Garrison, Thoreau, Alexander Herzen, Edward Carpenter and so on; and in the domain of fiction, the dramas of Ibsen, the poetry of Walt Whitman, Tolstoy's War and Peace, Zola's Paris and Le Travail". "On May 18, 1827, an historic date, he opened a little general store at the corner of Fifth and Elm Streets in Cincinnati. He called it the Equity Store, but as soon as people found out about it, this became the most popular retail business in the city, and was known because of its method of computing price as the 'time store.' Price was based on the principle of equal exchange of labor, measured by time occupied and exchange with other kinds of labor. All goods were marked with their cost plus overhead, usually about four percent. It was, incidentally, the first self-service business. The customer selected what he wished, brought it to the counter, the clerk computed the time spent in service, and the customer gave a labor note, 'Due to Josiah Warren on demand, thirty minutes in carpenter work, John Smith' or, 'Due to Josiah Warren on demand, ten minutes in needlework, Mary Brown.'"   Source: Communalism, by Kenneth Rexroth World's First Continuous Sheet Press  "About this time he found that in order to build such a press as he contemplated and his ambition dictated, it was necessary for him to go to Cincinnati so that he could have his work done, and some time in March he went to Cincinnati, taking me with him. He soon had his work room for the iron work and machinery, also cabinet shops, office and printing office for job work such as business cards, advertisements, etc. The writer, then only 13 years of age, did the typesetting and card-printing; this work was done on one of my father's job presses. The building where this work was done, and where the first continuous sheet press was ever built and worked, was in the middle of the magnificent block facing the splendid fountain on Fifth Street. The block at that time was considered a splendid structure, being two stories high.  "The work of building the press progressed rapidly for those times, and job printing was carried on by the writer. Finally the great and beautiful press was finished, and fully tested. It proved capable of striking off from forty to sixty copies per minute—an achievement in printing never before heard of or imagined. As it was the intention to use this mammoth press for the presidential campain of 1840 as soon as it had been thoroughly tested, this magnificent printing press was placed on board the steamboat Rover on New Year's Eve, 1840 – I shall never forget that night. Moving the Press to Evansville  "It was cold, and a terrible wind, snow and a hail storm [were] in full blast as we pulled out from the wharf. As the Rover was the last boat which was expected to leave for some time, she was well crowded with passengers. It got colder and colder, and the ice was forming rapidly. Finally we cut our way to shore several miles from Madison, Indiana, or 57 [miles] above Louisville.  "In the morning we were informed by the Captain that the prospects were very flattering for a starve-out or a walkout of seven miles to Madison, and all hands started on a dismal walk through the snow, the beautiful snow. We made the trip, got to Louisville, stayed three days, and it kept freezing harder. As no stages were running, my father made arrangements to go in a sleigh, got up at 4 A.M., took the sleigh, rode three hours, stopped for breakfast, and finding we were nearly frozen, we concluded to walk the balance of the way home—one hundred and seventy five miles. This distance we made on foot in six and a half days to New Harmony. It took the Rover over two months to do it [to Evansville], as she was icebound all that time." Josiah Warren, by his son George W Warren (the enterprise was a $6,000 investment by the sons of New Harmony founder, Robert Owen) Josiah Warren: A Bibliography    Josiah Warren Archive    Early progressives in the Book of Days Example of Warren's Universal Typography    New Harmony Scientists, Educators, Writers & Artists 'The Free Love Movement and Radical Individualism', by Wendy McElroy    Josiah Warren Project    More   1877 Sydney, Australia, Saturday, 4pm: Dressed in a dark tunic with a red cap and turban, Henri L'Estrange, who billed himself as 'The Australian Blondin', walked a hempen tightrope across Willoughby Bay, part of Middle Harbour. It was the same crossing that The Great Blondin (Jean François Gravelet) himself had made several times on August 29, 1874. Twenty-one steamers, booked by L'Estrange, carried thousands of Sydneysiders at two shillings return for a ticket to obtain the best views. According to The Sydney Illustrated News "He performed his truly wonderful feat with the greatest coolness and consummate ability, and went through a number of daring evolutions on the rope similar to some of those he affects when going through his daily entertainments." Between this day and April 21, L'Estrange repeated the performance several times, once before the Governor of New South Wales and his wife, Lady Robinson. A Mr Devlin composed a piece of music called 'Blondin's March' in honour of L'Estrange, whose name and that of the great French tightrope walker by now had become more or less interchangeable in colonial Australia. 1879 Australian tightrope walker and general daredevil, Henri L'Estrange (see above, 1877), became the first person to use a parachute in Australia, when his balloon burst over Melbourne. "Henri L'Estrange after inflating his balloon 'Aurora' with coal gas supplied by the Metropolitan Gas Co. ascended from the Agricultural Society's Ground (Melbourne). "His weight calculations had been based on the quality of Sydney gas, which being inferior to Melbourne gas, caused him an error amounting to an underestimate of 700 lbs. This gave him an accelerated ascent and resulted in his attaining an estimated 9,000 ft. in a short time. The balloon burst but with the aid of a parachute he descended safely though badly shaken."   Source Further adventures of Henri L'Estrange    More Was James Alexander the real 'Australian Blondin'?   1881 The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight was fought on El Paso Street of El Paso, Texas, USA. 1894 Thomas Edison demonstrated the kinetoscope, a device for peep-show viewing using photographs that flip in sequence, a precursor to movies. 1897 "Gas City (Indiana). An object landed 2 km south of Gas City on the property of John Roush, terrifying the farmers and causing the horses and cattle to stampede. Six occupants of the ship came out and seemed to make some repairs. Before the crowd could approach the object, it rose rapidly and flew toward the east." Source: A Century of UFO Landings (1868 - 1968) 1903 Dr Harry Plotz discovered the typhus vaccine, New York. 1910 US President William Howard Taft began the tradition of throwing out the first baseball on opening day.     1912 On its maiden voyage, the British ocean liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean at about 11:40 pm ship's time. She finished sinking at about 2:20 am the next day. It is not true that millionaire passenger John Jacob Astor IV quipped "I ordered ice, but this is ridiculous".  Sir Lew Grade made a film, Raise the Titanic, based on Clive Cussler's best-selling book about the salvage of the disaster liner. The budget blew out and Grade lost £10 million. He is reported to have quipped, "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic".  A 21-year-old radio operator in New York on April 14, 1912, picked up the message from SS Olympic through the static: "SS Titanic ran into iceberg. Sinking fast". He sat for hours taking down whatever information he could, communicating it to the anxiously waiting world, until he collapsed, exhausted. The young man was David Sarnoff - later founder of communications giant RCA.     Titan and Titanic "Most Titanic buffs are familiar with one of the more remarkable coincidences associated with the sinking of that ill-fated ocean liner: Fourteen years earlier, a writer named Morgan Robertson had penned a novella entitled Futility about the largest and grandest ocean liner of its time – considered to be unsinkable because of her multiple water-tight compartments that could be sealed off automatically in case of emergency – which sank after striking an iceberg. Numerous passengers lost their lives because the liner did not carry enough lifeboats to accommodate everyone. Demonstrating an eery [sic] prescience, Robertson had named his ship the Titan. (After the Titanic disaster, the novella was reissued as The Wreck of the Titan.)" Source: Urban Legend Reference Pages (Titan pictured at right)   Was Poseidon Adventure showing when Titanic sank? According to the Urban Legends Reference Pages, it is true, and not an urban legend, that at the very moment the Titanic struck the iceberg, a large number of passengers were viewing the DW Griffith 1911 silent film The Poseidon Adventure – a movie about the desperate efforts of a group of passengers to survive the sinking of an ocean liner. The only problem with this is, that there is no DW Griffith movie by that name in the Internet Movie Database, and the actors, actresses and crew mentioned by the IRLP have no citation for such a movie. Nor does the database for 1911. Are the urban legends experts writing a new urban legend for the masses? Yes; go back to the ULRP page and take the link to the so-called IMDB page – it is made to look like IMDB but it's just a hoax. That's why they put it on their Lost Legends page, which contains their own hoaxes. They fess up here. Not bad! Australian links to the Titanic   1914 Death of Hubert Bland (b. 1855), co-founder of Fabian Society. 1914 The town of Irving, Texas was incorporated. 1917 Death of LL Zamenhof (b. 1859), creator of Esperanto. 1919 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Indian leader and proponent of civil disobedience, confessed at Nadiad his 'Himalayan miscalculation' regarding Satyagraha; Martial law was declared in the Punjab. Satyagraha was suspended on April 18. 1926 England: Emma Goldman lectures on "The Menace of Dictatorship: Bolshevist or Fascist," with British feminist Sylvia Pankhurst & William C. Owen at Essex Hall. 1927 The first Volvo car premiered in Gothenburg, Sweden. 1931 The Spanish Cortes deposed King Alfonso XIII and proclaimed the 2nd Spanish Republic. 1931 Britain gained its first Highway Code. 1933 Mrs Lores 'Harry' Bonney left Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, as she commenced the first solo flight by a woman from Australia to England. 1935 USA: 'Black Sunday', the worst dust storm of the Dust Bowl. 1937 Germany: Bruderhof, a collectivist traditional Christian peace church, was raided by the Gestapo in Frankfurt. 1940 Royal Marines landed in Namsos, Norway, occupying key points, preparatory to a larger force arriving two days later. 1944 A huge explosion rocked the Bombay harbour, killing 300 and causing a loss of 20 million pounds at that time. 1956 The world's first videotape was demonstrated at the 1956 NARTB (now NAB) convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA. 1959 "Gone in His Sleep – Bruce Campbell was right next to his wife when he disappeared, although she didn't see it happen. She was asleep. And perhaps so was he. It was April 14, 1959, and Campbell was traveling with his wife from their hometown in Massachusetts to visit their son some distance across the country. It was a long but pleasant drive across the U.S. with plenty of stops along the way. One overnight stop was in Jacksonville, Illinois... and it turned out to be the last stop Mr. Campbell was to ever make. He and his wife checked into a motel and went to bed. In the morning, Mrs. Campbell awoke to find the space next to her in bed empty. Mr. Campbell had vanished, apparently in his pajamas. All of his belongings - his money, car and clothing - remained behind. Bruce Campbell was never seen again and no explanation for his disappearance ever found. (From Among the Missing: An Anecdotal History of Missing Persons from 1800 to the Present, by Jay Robert Nash)"   Source 1962 Georges Pompidou became Prime Minister of France. 1964 American ecology writer Rachel Carson (b. 1907), author of Silent Spring died, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. "Disturbed by the profligate use of synthetic chemical pesticides after World War II, Carson reluctantly changed her focus in order to warn the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides. In Silent Spring (1962) she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government, and called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world."  Source "The book Silent Spring, which showed how modern society has been poisoning the earth on a worldwide scale, was violently attacked by the agricultural chemical industry. However, the book was officially endorsed by President John F Kennedy's Science Advisory Commitee. "'A few thousand words from her,' wrote a newspaper editor, 'and the world took on a new direction.' Rachel Carson was a widely respected conservationalist [sic] when she died on April 14,1964, and her legacy continues to live on through the environmental movement she helped to progress."   Source 1968 USA: (Easter Sunday) Love-in at Malibu Canyon in California. 1969 At the Academy Awards, a tie between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand resulted in the two sharing the Best Actress Oscar; Hepburn also became the only actress to win three Best Actress Oscars. 1969 John Lennon (with Paul McCartney on drums) recorded The Ballad of John and Yoko. Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list 1969 USA: Chicago FBI assured J Edgar Hoover that Judge Julius Hoffman planned to hold all defendants and attorneys involved in the Chicago 8 trial (Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin et al) in contempt. 1971 A $675,000,000,000,000 suit was bought against General Motors for polluting the USA. 1974 At an Easter service at Castelnau-de-Guers, France, the Abbé Caucanas and thirty of his congregation witnessed the apparition of "the face of Our Lord" on the white napkin covering the ciborium containing the Eucharistic bread. Some saw tears flowing from the face. The image lasted only 15 minutes or so. 1981 The Space Shuttle Columbia passed its first test flight. 1983 The first cordless telephone was introduced in Britain. 1986 In retaliation for the bombing of a West Berlin night club where a US serviceman was killed, Ronald Reagan ordered major bombing raids against Tripoli and Benghazi, in Libya, that killed 60 people. 1986 Hailstones weighing as much as 1kg (2.2 lb) fell on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. These were the heaviest hailstones ever recorded. 1986 French philosopher/feminist Simone de Beauvoir died. 1988 USS Samuel B Roberts (FFG-58) struck a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. The USA retaliated against Iran on April 18 with Operation Praying Mantis, the world's largest naval battle since World War II. 1988 Denmark declared its ports nuclear-free. 1995 Death of Burl Ives (b. 1909), Academy Award-winning American actor and acclaimed folk music singer and author. 1997 The launch of separate two-month marches of the unemployed in nearly a dozen European countries, to converge on a European Union meeting in June.   1999 A huge hailstorm hit Sydney, Australia, just before 8pm, wreaking havoc, particularly in the Eastern Suburbs. The storm was probably unparalleled in Australian records. At least 35,000 buildings, and many thousands of cars suffered serious damage from hailstones that hit the city at more than 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph); in many cases house roofs were totally destroyed. This aerial photo and the one on this page show blue tarpaulins on house roofs; from the air parts of Sydney were decidedly blue for months as tradespeople struggled to keep up with the demand. Insurance losses from the storm exceeded A$1.5 billion – the largest insured loss from a single event in Australian insurance history, a record previously held by the December 28, 1989 Newcastle Earthquake, for which the estimated insured loss was about A$1.1 billion. Over the first five hours, 2,000 emergency calls were taken, at a rate of one call every 10 seconds, to 1,092 separate incidents. Within hours of the storm hitting, the affected suburbs were declared disaster areas and the Government invoked a State of Emergency, giving full control of the incident to the State Emergency Service (SES). Large hail (defined as 2cm or more in diameter) is common in New South Wales with an average of about 45 reports each year. Large hail can occur in any month, but is particularly common from September to March, and reaches maximum frequency in November and December. Your almanackist was driving in the centre of the storm (on Sid Einfeld Drive, Bondi Junction en route to Paddington). He noticed first of all hail stones as big as the proverbial golf balls falling on the road ahead, but without rain. His fairly new Ford Festiva was smashed up by hailstones larger than cricket balls, by which time the rain was torrential and coming in the smashed rear window. Quite an experience and one he will never forget. Fortunately, insurance paid out very quickly. Why did it happen?    Timeline of the event    Australian weather Australian severe weather photo database    Photos    More    And more 2000 Metallica drummer, Lars Ulrich, filed a lawsuit against Napster. 2003 The Human Genome Project was successfully completed, with 9 per cent of the human genome sequenced to 99.99 per cent accuracy. 2003 Jean Charest's Parti libéral du Québec defeated Bernard Landry and the Parti Québécois in Quebec's general elections. 2004 Sikhs celebrated the 305th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa.   Tomorrow: Swallow Day, UK    Main calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search     Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. John F Kennedy was elected President in 1960. The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters. Both were particularly concerned with civil rights. Both wives lost a child while living in the White House. Both Presidents were shot on a Friday. Both Presidents were shot in the head. Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy. Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln. Both were assassinated by Southerners. Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908. John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839. Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939. Both assassins were known by their three names. Both names are composed of fifteen letters. Lincoln was shot at the theatre named 'Kennedy.' Kennedy was shot in a car called 'Lincoln.' Booth ran from the theatre and was caught in a warehouse. Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theatre. Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials. A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland. A week before Kennedy was shot, he was in Marilyn Monroe. Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research. I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude. © My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply. Read more about today at Wilson's Blogmanac

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