Today:
1. 1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter, the oldest and highest British Order of Chivalry, by King Edward III of England.
2. 1564 – The traditional birthdate of William Shakespeare, the English playwright and poet. He is also believed to have died on this date in 1616.
3. 1616 – The death of Miguel de Cervantes, the Spanish novelist best known for his book “Don Quixote”. Notably, his death is recorded on April 22 but is traditionally celebrated on April 23 due to the Gregorian calendar conversion.
4. 1910 – Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt delivers his famous “Citizenship in a Republic” speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, which includes the notable “Man in the Arena” segment.
5. 1940 – The Rhythm Night Club fire in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 209 people. It is one of the deadliest nightclub fires in U.S. history.
6. 1954 – Hank Aaron hits the first home run of his MLB career. Aaron would go on to hit 755 home runs, a record that stood until 2007.
7. 1967 – The launch of Soyuz 1, a manned spaceflight of the Soviet space program, which ended tragically when the spacecraft crashed due to a parachute failure, killing cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.
8. 1968 – The United Methodist Church is formed with the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
9. 1985 – The Coca-Cola Company announces the change of its formula and introduces New Coke. The market’s negative response to the new formula, however, led to the reintroduction of the original formula as “Coca-Cola Classic”.
10. 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations following its independence from South African rule on March 21, 1990.