April 26

April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). There are 249 days remaining.

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances

Events

1478 - The Pazzi attack Lorenzo de' Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Florence Cathedral.
1607 - English colonists make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia, later moving up the James River to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.
1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina.
1865 - Union Cavalry corner John Wilkes Booth and cavalryman Boston Corbett shoots the assassin dead.
1937 - Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
1962 - The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
1986 - In the Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant explodes creating the worlds worst nuclear disaster. 31 are killed directly by the the incident and many thousands more were exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material.
1994 - South Africa holds its first multiracial elections.
This is the yearly activation day of the v1.2 variant of the CIH Virus. This date caused the virus to be named the "Chernobyl Virus".

121 - Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor (+ 180)
1785 - John James Audubon, naturalist, illustrator (+ 1851)
1798 - Eugène Delacroix, painter (+ 1863)
1888 - Anita Loos, writer (+ 1981)
1889 - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austian-born English philosopher (+ 1951)
1894 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi official (+ 1987)
1895 - Nathaniel Kleitman, sleep researcher (+ 1999)
1897 - Olga Tschechowa, actress (+ 1980)
1897 - Douglas Sirk, director (+ 1987)
1900 - Charles Richter, geophysicist, inventor (+ 1985)
1911 - Marianne Hoppe, actress
1912 - A.E. van Vogt, science fiction writer (+ 2000)
1914 - Bernard Malamud, author (+ 1986)
1934 - Alan Arkin, actor
1935 - Carol Burnett, singer, actress, comedienne
1938 - Duane Eddy, musician
1940 - Giorgio Moroder, composer
1942 - Bobby Rydell, singer
1947 - Donna DeVarona, Olympic gold medalist in swimming, sports journalist, sports activist
1956 - Koo Stark, actress
1960 - Roger Taylor, musician ("Duran Duran")
1961 - Joan Chen, actress
1963 - Jet Li, martial arts fighter, actor

1865 - John Wilkes Booth, shot while trying to avoid capture for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
1892 - Sir Provo William Perry Wallis, British Admiral and naval hero, dies at 100
1970 - Gypsy Rose Lee, actress
1970 - John Knittel, dramatist
1973 - Irene Ryan, actress
1984 - Count Basie, musician, composer
1986 - Broderick Crawford, actor
1989 - Lucille Ball, actress, comedienne
1991 - Carmine Coppola, composer, conductor
1991 - William Andrew Paton, accountant and economist, dies at 101
1996 - Stirling Silliphant, writer, producer