King Richard I(English monarch, called Richard the Lionheart)β
Raphael(artist)β
Tammy Wynette(American country music singer
)β
Victor Argo(actor)β
Niki Sullivan(guitarist for Buddy Holly and the Crickets)β
Prince Rainier III of Monacoβ
Corin Redgrave(actor)β
Thomas Kinkade(painter; often referred to as Painter of Lightββ)β
Mickey Rooney(actor)β
James Best(actor; best known as Rosco P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard)β
Born
Raphael(artist)β
Gerry Mulligan(jazz musician)β
Billy Dee Williams(actor)β
John Ratzenberger(actor)β
Marilu Henner(actress)β
Bret Boone(baseball player)β
Paul Rudd(actor)β
Lou Merloni(baseball player)β
Zach Braff(actor)β
Peyton List(actress)β
Twin mongoose lemurs(born at Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida)β
Events
Brigham Young, the Mormon Church leader, married his 27th and last wifeβ
Snow-melting apparatus patentedβ
Vancouver, British Columbia, was incorporatedβ
The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greeceβ
Admiral Robert Peary and his African-American assistant Matthew Henson reached what was believed to be the North Poleβ
The U.S. declared war on Germany (WW I)β
Bakery manager, Jimmy Dewar, invented a cream filled sponge cake, now known as the Twinkieβ
The first Tony Awards were presented at a dinner in the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Easter Sundayβ
Paramount Pictures signed Elvis Presley to a three-movie contract just five days after his first screen testβ
Intelsat-1 (nicknamed Early Bird), the world’s first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, was launched from Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) in Floridaβ
Microsoft released Windows 3.1β
UConn’s women’s basketball team completed a championship sweep for the school by beating Tennessee 70-61 for the NCAA women’s title. The victory followed UConn’s win over Georgia Tech in the men’s championship game the previous night, making Connecticut the first Division I school to sweep both titlesβ
A magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck central Italyβ
Weather
A blizzard in New York and throughout New England brought high winds and up to 30 inches of snowβ