12 History Lessons + 4 Births & 5 Deaths for April 23, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1014 – Battle of Clontarf: Irish High King Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders but is killed in the battle.
- 1348 – The Order of the Garter is founded by King Edward III of England.
- 1564 – The Bard is born: William Shakespeare is believed to have been born on this day (also the date of his death in 1616).
- 1616 – William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes both die on this date (though not on the same calendar).
- 1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey is founded in Ankara, marking the start of modern Turkish government.
- 1941 – King George II of Greece flees the country as German forces advance.
- 1968 – Students at Columbia University begin an eight-day occupation of campus buildings to protest university expansion and Vietnam.
- 1985 – Coca-Cola announces the launch of “New Coke,” a widely unpopular reformulation.
- 1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a UN-supervised referendum.
- 2005 – YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim uploads the first video to the site: Me at the zoo.
- 2013 – The French National Assembly legalizes same-sex marriage.
- 2021 – NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter completes its second successful flight on Mars.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, actress and TV host (One Day at a Time) (65)
- 1977 – John Cena, professional wrestler and actor (Peacemaker, Fast & Furious) (48)
- 1986 – Taio Cruz, British singer-songwriter (Dynamite) (39)
- 1990 – Dev Patel, actor (Slumdog Millionaire, The Green Knight) (35)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright and literary icon (52)
- 1616 – Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author of Don Quixote (68)
- 1850 – William Wordsworth, British poet laureate (The Prelude) (80)
- 1951 – Charles G. Dawes, U.S. Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (85)
- 2007 – Boris Yeltsin, first President of the Russian Federation (76)
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