April 22

It’s Girl Scout Leader Day and National Jelly Bean Day

ON THIS DAY…
1056 The supernova in the Crab nebula was last seen by the naked eye
1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil and claimed it for Portugal
1509 Henry VIII ascends the throne of England after the death of his father
1792 President George Washington proclaimed American neutrality in the war in Europe
1823 Roller skates were patented by Robert John Tyers, a fruiterer in Picadilly, London
1836 A day after the Battle of San Jacinto forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna
1861 Robert E. Lee was named commander of Virginia forces
1864 The US Congress passes the Coinage Act which mandates that the inscription “In God We Trust” be placed on all coins minted as United States currency
1876 Eight baseball teams began the inaugural season of the National League
1889 At high noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Run of 1889; within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000
1912 Pravda, the “voice” of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publication
1915 The New York Yankees debut their famous pinstripes and hat-in-the-ring logo
1915 The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres
1930 The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding
1935 James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein opens in the US
1939 Dark Victory starring Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart and George Brent is released in the US
1945 Prisoners of Jasenovac concentration camp revolted; 520 were killed and 80 escaped
1952 An atomic test conducted in Nevada was the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television
1954 The US Senate Army-McCarthy televised hearings began
1956 Elvis Presley made his Las Vegas debut at the Frontier Hotel
1969 John Winston Lennon changes his name to John Ono Lennon on the roof of 3 Savile Row in London
1969 The first human eye transplant was performed
1970 The first Earth Day celebrated
1976 Barbara Walters signs a record $1 million contract with ABC and becomes the first female nightly news anchor in the US
1978 John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd made their first appearance as The Blues Brothers on NBC’s Saturday Night Live
1983 The German magazine, Der Stern claims that Adolf Hitler’s diaries were found in a wreckage in East Germany
1993 The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC is dedicated
1993 The web browser Mosaic version 1.0 is released
1997 A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building, rescuing 71 hostages; one hostage dies of a heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire, and all 14 rebels are slain
1998 Disney’s Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World
2000 In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year-old Elián González from his relatives’ home in Miami, FL
2005 Zacarias Moussaoui plead guilty to conspiring with hijackers in the September 11, 2001, plot to attack American buildings and citizens

BORN:
1707 Henry Fielding, novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess (The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great, Amelia)
1724 Immanuel Kant, philosopher who is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and of the late Age of Enlightenment
1832 Julius Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day, first observed in Nebraska on April 10, 1872 when over a million trees were planted
1870 Vladimir Lenin, a Russian revolutionary, a communist politician, the main leader of the October Revolution, the first head of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic and from 1922, the first de facto leader of the Soviet Union
1904 Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist and science administrator, noted as director of the Los Alamos laboratory during development of the atomic bomb and as director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton
1906 Eddie Albert, actor (Roman Holiday, The Longest Yard, Green Acres, Escape to Witch Mountain)
1923 Bettie Page, model with a significant cult following who became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pin-up photos
1923 Aaron Spelling, Emmy Award-winning producer and creator of many popular TV shows (And the Band Played On, Day One, Dynasty, Family, The Mod Squad)
1926 Charlotte Rae, actress (Bananas, Rabbit Test, Hair, Diff’rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, 101 Dalmatians: The Series)
1936 Glen Campbell, Grammy Award-winning musician and songwriter and sometimes actor (True Grit, Rock-A-Doodle)
1937 Jack Nicholson, 3-time Academy Award-winning actor (As Good as It Gets, Terms of Endearment, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Chinatown, A Few Good Men)
1939 Jason Miller, character actor (The Exorcist, Toy Soldiers, Rudy)
1946 John Waters, director-writer-producer-cinematographer-actor (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, Female Trouble, Cry Baby, Serial Mom)
1959 Ryan Stiles, actor-comedian (Whose Line is it Anyway, The Drew Carey Show, Hot Shots!)
1963 Sean Lock, writer-actor-comedian (Qi, TV Heaven, Telly Hell, 15 Storeys High)
1964 Chris Makepeace, actor (My Bodyguard, Meatballs, The Falcon and the Snowman)
1967 Sheryl Lee, actress (Twin Peaks, Backbeat, LA Doctors, Wild at Heart)
1984 Michelle Ryan, actress (The Bionic Woman, EastEnders, Jeykll, Mansfield Park)

DIED:
1933 Henry Royce, pioneering car manufacturer, who with Charles Stewart Rolls founded the Rolls-Royce company, dies at 70
1946 Lionel Atwill, actor (Doctor X, The Vampire Bat, Mark of the Vampire, Captain Blood, To Be or Not to Be), dies at 61
1978 Will Geer, Emmy Award-winning actor (The Waltons, Jeremiah Johnson, Seconds), dies at 76
1984 Ansel Adams, conservationist and photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, dies at 82
1994 Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (1969-1974), dies at 81
1996 Erma Bombeck, humorist-columnist-writer (The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank, Just Wait Until You Have Children of Your Own, If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?), dies at 69
2007 Linda Mills, sister, mother, grandmother, artist, gardener, beloved cousin, dies at 59