Norris McWhirter(co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, final arbiter on everything from the fastest climb of Mount Everest to the world’s longest hot dog)β
Events
The American Revolution began with the first shot fired at Lexington (no one knows from which side). The shot heard round the worldβ (a reference from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem βThe Concord Hymnβ) occurred at the North Bridge in Concord later that same day. It was the first exchange where colonial militiamen were ordered to fire upon British soldiers.β β
The Boston Marathon was held for the first time β
Great fire in Toronto started β
Canadian runner Tom Longboat won the Boston Marathon in 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 24 seconds β
Women granted the right to vote in Alberta, Canada β
Leslie Irvin made the first free-fall parachute jump, Dayton, Ohio β
John C. Miles won Boston Marathon β
Oxford English Dictionary completed β
Surgeon’s Loch Ness monster hoax photo taken β
Movie Stand Up and Cheer released in U.S., first to seriously launch Shirley Temple’s film career β
Spring peepers heard in Dublin, NH β
WIYY DJ Bob Rivers began an on-air vigil until baseball’s Baltimore Orioles won (which was in 258 hours) β
Oklahoma City bombing β
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope. He chose the name Pope Benedict XVI. He was the oldest pope elected since 1730 β
The death of the oldest known spider (43-year-old trapdoor species) was announced
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NASAβs Ingenuity helicopter became the first aircraft to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet (Mars). β
Weather
Last snow of a late winter raised snow cover to 3 feet in southern New Hampshire β
In the second day of an early-season heat wave in the Northeast, Providence, Rhode Island, reached 98 degrees F β
The Boston Marathon was run in 90-degree heat β
The temperature reached 88 degrees F in Portsmouth, New Hampshire β
Lead, South Dakota, received 59 inches of snow β