APRIL 23RD

• 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

April 22 - April 24 - March 23 - May 23 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December