Events for April 22
1945 – World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and around eighty escape.
1944 – World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station.
1969 – The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta.
1993 – Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham.
1969 – British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.
1954 – Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins.
1992 – A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206.
1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
2020 – Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history.
1944 – World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.
1809 – The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: The Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon and driven over the Danube in Regensburg.
1906 – The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens.
1915 – World War I: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
2016 – The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming.
1970 – Chicano residents in San Diego, California occupy a site under the Coronado Bridge, leading to the creation of Chicano Park.
1898 – Spanish–American War: President William McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to join the National Guard and fight in Cuba, while Congress more than doubles regular Army forces to 65,000.
1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues (1,250 kilometres (780 mi)) east of the Moluccas.
1945 – World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army.
2005 – Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.
1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The port city of Haifa is captured by Jewish forces.
1966 – American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D crashes on approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport in Ardmore, Oklahoma, killing 83.
1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna among the captives of the battle when some of his fellow soldiers mistakenly give away his identity.
1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
Notable Births & Deaths for April 22
1979 – Zoltán Gera, Hungarian international footballer and manager
1991 – Danni Wyatt, English cricketer
1983 – Sam W. Heads, English-American entomologist and palaeontologist
2011 – Violet McGraw, American actress
2009 – Jack Cardiff, British cinematographer, director and photographer (b. 1914)
2005 – Philip Morrison, American physicist and academic (b. 1915)
1990 – Eve Muirhead, Scottish curler
2010 – Richard Barrett, American lawyer and activist (b. 1943)
1987 – David Luiz, Brazilian footballer
1966 – Mickey Morandini, American baseball player and manager
2012 – George Rathmann, American chemist, biologist, and businessman (b. 1927)
1996 – Jug McSpaden, American golfer and architect (b. 1908)
2006 – Alida Valli, Italian actress (b. 1921)
2015 – Dick Balharry, Scottish environmentalist and photographer (b. 1937)
1995 – Jane Kenyon, American poet and author (b. 1947)
1980 – Quincy Timberlake, Kenyan-Australian activist, engineer, and politician
1978 – Paul Malakwen Kosgei, Kenyan runner and coach
2013 – Lalgudi Jayaraman, Indian violinist and composer (b. 1930)
1999 – Munir Ahmad Khan, Pakistani nuclear engineer (b. 1926)
1966 – Jeffrey Dean Morgan, American actor
2020 – Shirley Knight, American actress (b. 1936)
1970 – Regine Velasquez, Filipino singer and actress
1990 – Kevin Kiermaier, American baseball player
2017 – Donna Leanne Williams, Australian writer, artist, and activist (b. 1963)
2014 – Oswaldo Vigas, Venezuelan painter (b. 1926)
1979 – Daniel Johns, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – David J. C. MacKay, English physicist, engineer, and academic (d. 2016)
2005 – Erika Fuchs, German translator (b. 1906)
2023 – Len Goodman, English ballroom dancer and television personality (b. 1944)
1986 – Marshawn Lynch, American football player
1963 – Sean Lock, English comedian and actor (d. 2021)
1988 – Dee Strange-Gordon, American baseball player
1976 – Dan Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
2007 – Juanita Millender-McDonald, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
1986 – Amber Heard, American actress
2022 – Guy Lafleur, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1951)
2013 – Robert Suderburg, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1936)
1967 – Sherri Shepherd, American actress, comedian, and television personality
1990 – Machine Gun Kelly, American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor
1983 – Shkëlzen Shala, Albanian entrepreneur and veganism activist
2021 – Adrian Garrett, American professional baseball player (b. 1943)
1996 – Erma Bombeck, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
2013 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
2003 – Felice Bryant, American songwriter (b. 1925)
2006 – Henriette Avram, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1919)
2005 – Eduardo Paolozzi, Scottish sculptor and artist (b. 1924)
1963 – Rosalind Gill, English sociologist and academic
Quick Start
Our API is incredibly easy to use, check out the code samples below to get started:
Fetch Historical Events
All you need to do is send a request to https://today.zenquotes.io/api/[month]/[day]/[key] in order to generate a JSON array of historical events, including notable births and deaths. API data pulled from WikiPedia.
*[key] not required but recommended.
Sample Requests
https://today.zenquotes.io/api - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for current server time (UTC).
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/1/1 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for January 1.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/5/5 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for May 5.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/12/25 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for December 25.
Response
The result data is formatted as a JSON array, grouped by event type.
{ "info":"OnThisDay API", "date":"April_20", "updated":"1615972324",
"data":{
"Events":[
{
"text":"1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.[1]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1303\" title=\"1303\">1303</a> – The <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapienza_University_of_Rome\" title=\"Sapienza University of Rome\">Sapienza University of Rome</a> is instituted by a <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_bull\" title=\"Papal bull\">bull</a> of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII\" title=\"Pope Boniface VIII\">Pope Boniface VIII</a>."
},
//.. MORE DATA ..//
],
"Births":[
{
"text":"1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)[8]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1494\" title=\"1494\">1494</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Agricola\" title=\"Johannes Agricola\">Johannes Agricola</a>, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)"
},
//.. MORE DATA ..//
],
"Deaths":[
{
"text":"689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)[21]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/689\" title=\"689\">689</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dwalla_of_Wessex\" title=\"Cædwalla of Wessex\">Cædwalla</a>, king of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex\" title=\"Wessex\">Wessex</a> (b. 659)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
}
]
} }Usage Limits and Attribution
Requests are restricted to 5 per 30 second period, an API key or registered IP is required for unlimited access and to enable Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers. We require that you show attribution with a link back to https://today.zenquotes.io/ when using the free version of this API. Contact support@zenquotes.io to chat with our friendly dev team and get registered.
Historical event data provided by <a href="https://today.zenquotes.io/" target="_blank">ZenQuotes.io</a>