April 5^th is

Caramel Day

Go For Broke Day *

Gold Star Spouses Day *

Deep Dish Pizza Day *

Read A Road Map Day

Star Trek First Contact Day *

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MORE! Thomas Hobbes, Bette Davis and Sadao Munemori, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

China, Hong Kong & Macau –
Qing Ming Jie (Tomb Sweeping Day)

North Korea – Chungmyung Day
(Tomb cleaning day)

South Korea – Arbor Day

Switzerland – Näfels: Näfelser Fahrt
(Glarus 1388 victory over Hapsburgs)

Taiwan – Ching Ming Festival
(tomb-sweeping day)

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On This Day in HISTORY

823 – Lothar I, son of Louis the Pious, is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I

1242 – Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice on Lake Peipus, which is on the modern border between Estonia and Russia

1566 – Two-hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Bréderode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands for Spain, and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces; Hendrick van Bréderode is banished by the next Spanish Governor of the Netherlands, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, and dies in exile

1588 – Thomas Hobbes born, English philosopher and political theorist

1603 – James VI of Scotland, now the new King of England as James I, begins his journey from Edinburgh to London

1649 – Elihu Yale born in America, English merchant; benefactor of Yale University

1732 – Jean-Honoré Fragonard born, French Rococo painter

1761 – Sybil Ludington born, at age 16, becomes an American Revolutionary War heroine, when she rides to warn American colonial forces the British approach on April 26, 1777, riding twice the distance of Paul Revere

1764 – British Parliament’s Sugar Act restricts importing molasses to America

1792 – U.S. President George Washington exercises the first presidential veto against an apportionment bill passed by Congress which exceeded constitutional guidelines for determining the number of delegates that should comprise the House of Representatives

1803 – First performance of Beethoven’s 2nd Symphony in D

1818 – In the Battle of Maipú, Chile’s independence movement, led by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martín, win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean dead

1825 – Mary Jane Hawes Holmes born, American author of novels and short stories, sold 2 million books in her lifetime second only to Harriet Beecher Stowe; Tempest and Sunshine; Rose Mather, a Tale of War; Darkness and Daylight

1827 – Joseph Lister born, English surgeon and scientist

1837 – Algernon Charles Swinburne born, English poet

– from Before Parting, by Algernon Charles Swinburne

1856 – Booker T. Washington born, educator and reformer, important spokesperson for black Americans at the turn of the 20th century

1858 – W. Atlee Burpee born, founds world’s largest mail-order seed company

1873 – Nellie Neilson born, American historian, first woman elected a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America (1926), first woman to serve as president of the American Historical Association

1881 – Edwing Houston and Elihu Thomson patent a centrifugal separator for separating milk

1901 – Hattie Elizabeth Alexander born, American pediatrician and microbiologist, developed treatments for Haemophilus influenzae  (influenzal meningitis), reducing the mortality rate from nearly 100 percent to less than 25 percent; among the first scientists to identify antibiotic resistance, which she correctly concluded was caused by random genetic mutations in DNA; first woman president of the American Pediatric Society

1908 – Jagjivan Ram born, Indian politician, spokesman for the untouchables

1908 – Bette Davis born, American actor and movie star; winner of two Academy Awards for Best Actress for Dangerous and Jezebel, and nominated as best actress for eight other performances; sold $2 million worth of WWII war bonds in two days, was the only white member of an acting troupe that performed for black regiments, and co-founded the Hollywood Canteen, a social club for WWII military personnel; first woman President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

1913 – Ruth Smith Nielson born, Faroese artist who lived some years in Denmark, then returned to the Faroe Islands; her work is fits the transition in art from Impressionism to realism

Self-Portrait, Ruth Smith Nielson – 1955

1922 – American Birth Control League, founded by Margaret Sanger and forerunner of Planned Parenthood, is incorporated in New York

1925 – Janet D. Rowley born, American geneticist who was the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and some other cancers; she advanced in the University of Chicago’s Department of Hematology from research associate in 1963 to full professor by 1977, improving existing methods of staining to make identifying chromosomes easier; her findings of the link between abnormal chromosomes and cancer was met with some initial resistance, but has become immensely influential, leading to over 70 translocations being identified across different cancers; recipient in 1998 of both the Lasker Award and the National Medal of Science, and in 2009, the Presidential Medal of Freedom

1938 – Nancy Holt born, American sculptor, installation artist and creator of monumental land art; notable for Sun Tunnels in the Utah desert, Dark Star Park in Rosslyn VA, and Solar Web in Santa Monica CA

1939 – Membership in the Hitler Youth becomes obligatory in Germany

1943 – Ike Sewell invents Deep Dish Pizza in Chicago IL

1943 – Miet Smet born, Belgian Christian Democratic and Flemish Party (CD&V) politician, founder and first president of its women’s organization, Vrouw en Maatschappij (Woman and Society); appointed a Minister of State in 2002; Member of the European Parliament (1999-2004); Flemish Parliament member since 2004, and the Belgian Parliament (2007-2010); advocate for improving women’s economic position and their participation in policy-making, and opposing violence against women

1944 – Willeke van Ammelrooy born, Dutch actress and director, noted for her performance in the title role of the feminist film, Antonia’s Line, which won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

1945 – Go For Broke Day * honors U.S. Army Private 1^st Class Sadao Munemori, who died in Italy on this day by throwing himself on a grenade to save members of his unit, the first Japanese American to be awarded the Medal of Honor; he was one of the 442^nd Regimental Combat Team, mostly Japanese-American volunteers, the most decorated infantry regiment in U.S. Army history. Their motto was “Go for Broke”

1946 – First performance of Charles Ives’ 3rd Symphony

1949 – Judith Arlene Resnik born, American engineer and NASA astronaut; she died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster January 28, 1986

1954 – Elvis Presley records his debut single “That’s All Right”

1962 – Herb Gardner’s play A Thousand Clowns premieres on Broadway, starring Jason Robards, Jr. and Sandy Dennis

1963 – Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes chief of Western Samoa

1968 – Simon & Garfunkel’s single “Mrs. Robinson” is released

1969 – Massive anti-war demonstrations across the U.S.

1976 –Tom Stoppard’s Dirty Linen premieres in London

1992 – Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War; dispute over who fired the shots

1993 – Construction begins on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland OH

2012 – Suicide of a 77-year-old pensioner outside the Greek Parliament in Athens sparks more protests

2012 – Gold Star Spouses Day * designated by a U.S. Senate resolution to honor the husbands and wives of fallen soldiers

2016 – San Francisco CA becomes the first U.S. city to mandate paid parental leave

2063 – Star Trek First Contact Day *: Zefram Cochrane takes the first flight of an Earthling to exceed Warp 1, making first contact with an alien race, the Vulcans

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