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1012 - Martyrdom of St. Alphege in Greenwich, London.

1529 - At the Diet of Speyer, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities (German: Reichsstadt) protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms, beginning the Protestant movement.

1587 - Sir Francis Drake sinks the Spanish fleet in Cádiz harbor.

1692 - Bridget Bishop goes on trial in Salem, Massachusetts for witchcraft.

1713 - With no living male heirs, Emperor Charles VI issues the Pragmatic Sanction to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inherited by his daughter, Maria Theresa (not actually born until 1717).

1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Lexington and Concord – British General Thomas Gage attempts to confiscate American colonists' firearms. Captain John Parker orders his band of minutemen to not fire unless fired upon. Random shots rang out among the British soldiers. The minutemen promptly fired back. This was the "shot heard round the world." The British are driven back to Boston, Massachusetts, thus beginning the American Revolutionary War.

1809 - The army of Austria attacks and is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition.

1810 - Venezuela achieves home rule: Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a is installed.

1839 - The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom.

1861 - American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861, a pro-Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland, attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.

1892 - Charles Duryea claims to have driven the first automobile in the United States, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1904 - Much of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is destroyed by fire.

1909 - Joan of Arc receives beatification.

1919 - Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful parachute jump and free-fall.

1927 - Mae West is sentenced to 10 days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.

1928 - The 125th and final fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces that the United States will be abandoning the gold standard.

1934 - Shirley Temple debuts in Stand Up and Cheer.

1936 - First day of the Great Uprising in Palestine.

1938 - RCA–NBC begins regular television broadcasts.

1943 - World War II: In Poland, German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

1943 - Bicycle Day – Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time.

1950 - Argentina becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1951 - General Douglas MacArthur retires from the military.

1954 - Constituent Assembly of Pakistan decides Urdu and Bengali to be national languages of Pakistan.

1956 - Actress Grace Kelly marries Rainier III of Monaco.

1960 - Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against their president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.

1961 - The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in failure.

1971 - Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.

1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration in Washington, DC.

1971 - Launch of Salyut 1, first human-made space station.

1976 - Executive Order 9066 is rescinded.

1978 - Lagumot Harris is elected President of Nauru.

1985 - U.S.S.R performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.

1987 - The Simpsons make their debut in the short Good Night a segment for The Tracey Ullman Show.

1989 - A gun turret explodes on the USS ''Iowa'', killing 47 sailors.

1993 - The 50-day siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die.

1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168.

1999 - The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.

2000 - An Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 crashes near Davao International Airport, killing 131.

2005 - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger elected Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of the Papal conclave.

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1320 - King Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)

1452 - King Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1504)

1603 - Michel le Tellier, French statesman (d. 1685)

1658 - Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (d. 1716)

1665 - Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (d. 1721)

1686 - Vasily Tatishchev, Russian statesman (d. 1750)

1721 - Thomas McKean, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1817)

1721 - Roger Sherman, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1793)

1785 - Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French composer (d. 1858)

1793 - Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875)

1832 - José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)

1874 - Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952)

1882 - Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (d. 1954)

1883 - Richard von Mises, Austrian-born mathematician (d. 1953)

1889 - Otto Georg Thierack, German jurist and politician (d. 1946)

1892 - Germaine Tailleferre, French composer (d. 1983)

1897 - Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970)

1897 - Constance Talmadge, American actress (d. 1973)

1899 - George O'Brien, American actor (d. 1985)

1900 - Richard Hughes, English novelist (d. 1976)

1903 - Eliot Ness, American lawman (d. 1957)

1912 - Glenn Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)

1919 - Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographher

1922 - Erich Hartmann, German pilot (d. 1993)

1925 - Hugh O'Brian, American actor

1928 - Alexis Korner, English musician (d. 1984)

1930 - Dick Sargent, American actor (d. 1994)

1931 - Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist (d. 2004)

1932 - Dickie Goodman, American humorist (d. 1989)

1933 - Dickie Bird, English cricket umpire

1933 - Jayne Mansfield, American actress (d. 1967)

1935 - Dudley Moore, English actor, musician, comedian, composer (d. 2002)

1936 - Wilfried Martens, Prime Minister of Belgium

1937 - Elinor Donahue, American actress

1937 - Joseph Estrada, actor and President of the Philippines

1940 - Genya Ravan, American vocalist (Goldie & the Gingerbreads, Ten Wheel Drive)

1941 - Alan Price, English Musician (The Animals), (The Alan Price Set)

1944 - James Heckman, American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize

1944 - Bernie Worrell, American keyboardist (P Funk)

1946 - Tim Curry, British actor

1947 - Murray Perahia, American pianist

1947 - Mark Volman, American musician (The Turtles

1948 - Rick Miller, American baseball player

1949 - Larry Walters, American "lawn chair" pilot

1951 - Barry Brown, Amercian actor and writer (d. 1978)

1951 - Jóannes Eidesgaard, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands

1952 - Alexis Arguello, Nicaraguan boxer

1953 - Rod Morgenstein, American musician (Winger)

1953 - Ruby Wax, British television personality

1954 - Bob Rock, Canadian record producer & musician (The Payolas)

1960 - Roger Merrett, Australian footballer

1960 - Frank Viola, baseball player

1962 - Al Unser, Jr., American race car driver

1965 - Suge Knight, American record producer

1965 - Natalie Dessay, French soprano

1966 - Véronique Gens, French soprano

1966 - Osamu Matsuda, Japanese professional wrestler

1967 - Steven H Silver, American science fiction editor

1967 - Dar Williams, American musician and songwriter

1968 - Mswati III, King of Swaziland

1968 - Ashley Judd, American actress

1970 - Kelly Holmes, English athlete

1970 - Luis Miguel, Mexican pop-singer

1972 - Rivaldo, Brazilian footballer

1975 - Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer

1975 - Jussi Jääskeläinen, Finnish footballer

1977 - Lucien Mettomo, Cameroonian footballer

1978 - James Franco, American actor

1978 - Gabriel Heinze, Argentinian footballer

1979 - Kate Hudson, American actress

1981 - Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor

1981 - Martin Havlat, Czech hockey player

1981 - Troy Polamalu, American football player

1981 - Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress

1987 - Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player

1987 - Oksana Akinshina, Russian actress

1989 - Fiona MacGillivray, Canadian vocalist for Celtic group The Cottars.

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1012 - Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 954)

1054 - Pope Leo IX (b. 1002)

1390 - King Robert II of Scotland (b. 1316)

1560 - Philipp Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (b. 1497)

1567 - Michael Stifel, German mathematician (b. 1487)

1578 - Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1530)

1588 - Paolo Veronese, Italian painter

1608 - Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English statesman and poet (b. 1536)

1618 - Thomas Bastard, clergyman and epigrammatist (b. 1565 or 1566)

1627 - John Beaumont, English poet (b. 1583)

1629 - Sigismondo d'India, Italian composer

1632 - King Sigismund I of Sweden (b. 1561)

1686 - Antonio de Solís y Ribadeneyra, Spanish writer (b. 1610)

1689 - Queen Christina of Sweden (b. 1626)

1733 - Elizabeth Villiers, mistress of William III of England

1739 - Nicholas Saunderson, English mathematician (b. 1682/3)

1751 - Peter Lacy, Irish-born Russian Field marshal (b. 1678)

1768 - Canaletto, Italian artist (b. 1697)

1791 - Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (b. 1723)

1813 - Benjamin Rush, physician, activist (b. 1745)

1824 - George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, English poet (b. 1788)

1831 - Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German mathematician (b. 1765)

1854 - Robert Jameson, Scottish naturalist (b. 1774)

1881 - Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)

1882 - Charles Darwin, English biologist (b. 1809)

1892 - Fr. Thomas Dale SSC, Anglican clergyman prosecuted for Ritualist practices in the 1870s (b. 1821)

1906 - Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)

1914 - Charles Sanders Peirce, American philosopher and mathematician (b. 1839)

1916 - Ephraim Shay, American inventor (b. 1839)

1926 - Alexander Alexandrovich Chuprov, Russian statistician (b. 1874)

1930 - Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, Canadian senator (b. 1827)

1937 - William Martin Conway, British art critic and mountaineer (b. 1856)

1949 - Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)

1950 - Ernst Robert Curtius, Alsatian philologist (b. 1886)

1967 - Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)

1971 - Russ Hodges, American sports broadcaster (b. 1910)

1971 - Earl Thomson, Canadian athlete (b. 1895)

1973 - Hans Kelsen, Austrian-born legal theorist (b. 1881)

1974 - Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (b. 1907)

1975 - Percy L. Julian, American chemist (b. 1899)

1987 - Hugh Brannum, American actor (b. 1910)

1987 - Maxwell D. Taylor, American general and diplomat (b. 1901)

1989 - Daphne du Maurier, English author (b. 1907)

1992 - Frankie Howerd, English comedian and actor (b. 1917)

1993 - David Koresh, American cult leader (b. 1959)

1997 - Eldon Hoke (aka "El Duce"), American musician (b. 1958)

1998 - Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)

1999 - David Sanes, US Navy employee.

2002 - Layne Staley, American musician (b. 1967)

2004 - Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (b. 1925)

2004 - John Maynard Smith, English biologist (b. 1920)

2005 - Ruth Hussey, American actress (b. 1911)

2005 - Bryan Ottoson, American musician (b. 1978)

2005 - Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish jazz bassist (b. 1946)

2005 - Blade Icewood, American rapper (b. 1977)

2006 - Scott Crossfield, American pilot, first man to fly at Mach 2.

2006 - Zola Levitt, Messianic Jewish preacher

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Patriot's Day (Massachusetts, Maine, and Wisconsin, USA).

Declaration of Independence Day (Venezuela).

Landing of the 33 (Uruguay).

Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:

Saint Emma

George of Antioch

Ursmar

Expeditus

Primrose Day (England) – primroses are placed on the statue of Benjamin Disraeli in Parliament Square, London on the anniversary of his death (1881).

The Roman holiday of Cerealia ends. (Roman Empire)

Bicycle Day.

Easter Sunday 1908, 1981, 1987, 1992. In the Gregorian Calendar Easter Sunday falls on 19 April more often than on any other date.